Police officers' group chat was 'racist and sexist'

Eight West Yorkshire Police officers were part of a WhatsApp group in which racist, sexist and "bullying" remarks were all exchanged, a tribunal has been told.

Sgt Mark Otter, PC Dominique Hawkins, PC Javaid Habeeb, PC Luke Riddett, PC Tom Harrison, PC Matthew Harrison, PC Lee Hillyard and another officer who has not been named all face misconduct proceedings.

The officers, all of whom worked at Pudsey police station in Leeds, breached policing standards through the group's activities between July 2020 and September 2021, according to the case put forward by the West Yorkshire Police Authority.

All eight deny allegations of gross misconduct.

Opening the case for the Authority at a hearing held at Trafalgar House in Bradford, Olivia Checa-Dover said messages in the group were "characterised by routine misogyny, casual racism and the proliferation of derogatory, offensive and discriminatory language".

"Mean-spirited and bullying remarks about colleagues and members of the public" were also made, the misconduct panel was told.

The messages included one officer suggesting an alleged rape victim was "probably asking for it anyway".

Another message sent by one of the officers read: "It's not harassment if they say yes. Remember lads, 50 nos and one yes is still a yes."

An image of an Asian detainee was shared with a caption referring to terrorism.

Police colleagues not in the group chat were regularly the subject of "unkind" messages and "the type of behaviour normally suffered by less popular schoolchildren", Ms Checa-Dover said.

Photographs shared in the group included pictures of "sudden death scenes", missing people and detainees, in an alleged breach of confidentiality standards, it was said.

The activities of the group were outed by a whistleblower who approached a senior officer, the hearing was told.

It was said that all eight officers accept having been part of the group but contend that the messages were an "expression of dark humour".

It was said that they believed the group was a "forum" where they could "process traumatic experiences, express themselves freely and provide support to others".

PC Tom Harrison, PC Matthew Harrison and PC Hillyard have all resigned from the police force since the allegations against them were made.

Sgt Otter, PC Hawkins, PC Habeeb and PC Riddett remain serving officers.

The anonymised officer, who was referred to in proceedings as PC X, also remains in the force.

Panel chair Gerry Sydenham said there were "sound legal reasons" for anonymising the officer's identity, though it was not explained at the hearing what these were.

The case continues.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.