Seven Humberside Police officers dismissed after 'deplorable' behaviour

Seven police officers have been dismissed from Humberside Police, and two more have been given a written warning, following a misconduct hearing.

The hearing initially took place in 2019 but Humberside Police say they were unable to reveal the outcome sooner because of an ongoing court case, which concluded on 30 June.

The first investigation involved three officers, two of which engaged in highly inappropriate conversations with each other as well as committing very serious separate breaches of the Standards, and one officer who sent offensive videos to another officer.

At Special Case Hearings in 2019 all three officers were found to have breached the standards cumulatively at gross misconduct level.

One officer was dismissed without notice and the other two officers, who had already resigned, would have been dismissed had they not already done so.

The second investigation involved six police officers who were all part of a WhatsApp group who exchanged wholly inappropriate offensive, sexist, racist, homophobic, misogynistic and anti-Semitic messages.

At Special Case Hearings in 2019 all six officers were found to have breached the Standards at gross misconduct level.

Three officers were dismissed without notice and a further officer would have been dismissed had he not already resigned.

All four officers were placed on the Barred List which prevents them from working in policing.

Two of the officers received final written warnings as their messages were deemed to be not as persistent and targeted as some other messages in the WhatsApp group.

On the decision, Assistant Chief Constable Dave Marshall said;

“The actions of these officers were deplorable and Humberside Police, its leadership and more importantly, our staff will not stand for this behaviour.”

“When this information came to light, we acted swiftly and robustly, and sought to bring appropriate sanctions to those involved. That has meant that seven of those involved have been dismissed and no longer work in policing.”

“The delay in reporting this to the public has been as a result of ongoing criminal proceedings in relation to some of the officers and their behaviours.

“I would like to reassure the community that while the actions of these officers may have tarnished their view of the police service, these aren’t the beliefs held by the overwhelming majority of officers at Humberside Police.

“I, along with the rest of my team, continue to identify and tackle anyone whose beliefs and behaviours do not match the values of Humberside Police.”

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