Well yeah garveylives (interesting choice of heroes) has form for conspiracy bollocks.
Another "conspiracy".
Eight serving and former West Yorkshire Police officers have been dismissed following an Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation into
discriminatory, offensive and bullying messages shared on WhatsApp (Note: Five serving police officers dismissed and three former colleagues told they would have been dismissed had they not already left).
The police officers were found to have been involved in "routine misogyny" and "casual racism", over "derogatory, offensive and discriminatory" messages posted in the group, including the sharing of photographs of "death scenes", car crashes, missing people and detainees, with accomp\nying abusive comments.
The eight West Yorkshire Police officers had a case to answer for gross misconduct and at a hearing that concluded on 20 December 2024, the disciplinary panel found a total of
67 allegations proven at the level of gross misconduct, a further 38 proven at the level of misconduct and 20 allegations were found not proven. All eight officers will be added to the police barred list to prevent them being employed in policing in the future.
Four other West Yorkshire Police officers had a case to answer for misconduct and, following separate proceedings earlier in 2024,
one received a final written warning, two received written warnings, and one was required to undergo reflective practice.
The eight West Yorkshire Police officers who will now be added to the College of Policing’s Barred List preventing them from gaining any further employment in policing are as follows:
PC Luke Riddett – 26 findings of gross misconduct and 12 findings of misconduct.
Ex-PC Tom Harrison – 10 findings of gross misconduct and four findings of misconduct.
PC X (who is subject of an anonymity order) – eight findings of gross misconduct and three findings of misconduct.
PS Mark Otter – seven findings of gross misconduct and one finding of misconduct.
PC Javaid Habeeb – five findings of gross misconduct and 10 findings of misconduct.
Ex-PC Matthew Harrison – five findings of gross misconduct and five findings of misconduct.
PC Dominique Hawkins – four findings of gross misconduct and two findings of misconduct.
Ex-PC Lee Hillyard – two findings of gross misconduct and one finding of misconduct.
As examples of behaviour within the group,
PC Luke Riddett shared a photograph of a bearded Asian detainee with the caption “if you had to draw a terrorist…”. He also made a number of inappropriate, sexualised comments about female colleagues.
PC Tom Harrison made a comment considered offensive to the travelling community, in which he suggested he would “make a good p*key”. He followed this up with a reference to stealing cars “in my spare time”.
PC Dominique Hawkins posted an image from the scene of a sudden death, after the body had been removed, to which another officer responded: “Delicious”.
One officer posted about a woman “on a bridge”, adding “jump jump jump jump”. He separately posted about the same woman, describing her as “feral” and “covered in blood from smashing her head off my boot”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Tanya Wilkins, Head of West Yorkshire Police's Professional Standards Directorate, said:
"
This misconduct hearing looked not only at the actions of this group but also their inaction.
"The lack of challenge and complicity of a supervisor being involved in these conversations has allowed a culture of routine misogyny, casual racism and bullying to develop within this team."
