One Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police officer has been dismissed and two former Police Officers have been sanctioned in misconduct hearings after being found guilty of making inappropriate, homophobic and/or discriminatory comments about the victim of a robbery in Ventnor.
PC Jonathan Walldock, Former PC Daniel Whiting, Former PC Nicholas Dove attended a report of robbery in Ventnor on 17th March 2021.
Inappropriate, homophobic and discriminatory comments
On returning to the station, it is alleged that these officers were overheard making inappropriate, homophobic and discriminatory comments about the victim of the robbery.
Further to this, it is alleged that none of the officers challenged these offensive comments.
Standards of Professional Behaviour breach
The making of inappropriate, homophobic and/or discriminatory comments about the robbery victim, as alleged above, breach the Standards of Professional Behaviour in relation to; Authority, Respect and Courtesy, Equality and Diversity and Discreditable Conduct.
Failing to challenge or report the officer(s) who made inappropriate, homophobic and/or discriminatory comments about the robbery victim, as alleged above, breach the Standards of Professional Behaviour in relation to; Challenging and Reporting Improper Conduct and Discreditable Conduct.
Outcome of hearing
The panel found it was proven, on the balance of probabilities, that all of the officers heard these remarks and that they were aware that they were homophobic and insulting comments.
The panel did not find, on the balance of probabilities, that the Appropriate Authority has proven which of the officers said those offensive words, however the words were said and they did not challenge the remarks.
The specific breaches
The Panel agree that the officers have breached the following standards of professional behaviour:
- Authority, respect and courtesy
- Discreditable conduct
- Equality and diversity
- Challenging and reporting Improper conduct.
These breaches are so serious that dismissal would be justified and therefore amount to gross misconduct.
Sanctions
The panel concluded that PC Walldock should be dismissed without notice.
Former PCs Dove and Whiting would have both been dismissed without notice, had they not already resigned from the force.
Further allegations against former PC Nicholas Dove
There were a further four allegations against former PC Dove, who had he not already resigned would have been dismissed without notice.
They include taking photographs of a sleeping and partially clothed female and sending them to a friend; disclosing confidential police information; making inappropriate, derogatory and/or racist comments in text messages and using the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary CARMS system to track down a female officer he wanted to send personal messages to.
He will also be placed on the College of Policing Barred List.
Murray: Deeply upsetting these officers felt they could act in such a way
Following the outcome of this hearing, Assistant Chief Constable Stu Murray said,
“Such discriminatory and derogatory language and behaviour has absolutely no place in policing and it is deeply upsetting that these officers felt they could act in such a way.
“Our Chief Constable has made it very clear that victims should be at the very heart of everything we do and what happened in this case clearly goes against this.
“As the panel found, regardless of who said what, they were all part of the conversation and at no point did one of them do what is expected of them and challenge the obviously offensive comments being made.
“There is no excuse for this and we all have a responsibility to take action against those who corrupt policing with such hateful and unacceptable behaviour.
“We want our officers and staff to know they will be supported when they stand up and do the right thing to report such matters because none of us want this within our force.
“It damages the public’s confidence in us and undermines the great work being done every day by our teams to make our communities safer for those living and working within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
“We want our communities and those working within our ranks to know that we are taking robust action when it comes to tacking misconduct to ensure there is no place for this type of appalling behaviour within our force.”
