West Midlands Police Officer Sacked Over Racist Comments About Colleagues
West Midlands Police has sacked an officer for making “racist and inappropriate” comments about his colleagues.
The officer – who has not been named – was dismissed on Thursday after appearing in front of an independent misconduct panel.
In September, another independent panel had given him a final written warning about his behaviour.
However, the decision was overturned in the High Court in June following a challenge by West Midlands Police.
On Thursday, the second panel – which was chaired by Andrea Pitt – unanimously agreed that the officer should be dismissed without notice.
West Midlands Police said the officer’s identity had been withheld “due to the nature of his work”.
Detective chief superintendent Chris Todd, who is head of professional standards, said he hoped the decision would give police officers and the public confidence to trust the force to “root out racism”.
“It was clear in this case that this officer felt it acceptable to talk about other colleagues in a racist way,” Todd said. “It was always our case that any officer or member of staff in West Midlands Police behaving in that way should be dismissed.”
He added: “There is no place for racism in policing and if we don’t eliminate it internally we cannot expect the public, particularly those from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, to put their trust in us.
“It was the right thing to do therefore to challenge the original decision at the High Court.
“I hope now that this outcome will give confidence to our colleagues across policing to report such behaviour knowing that they will be supported; and that it will give confidence to our communities that they can trust West Midlands Police to root out racism.”
