Ex-Met poster girl who cried racism loses all 33 claims
‘Astonishing lack of perspective’
A FORMER police poster girl has lost a £144,000 race claim after a tribunal heard she had a tendency to complain of prejudice whenever she was unhappy at work.
Ex-Met officer Carol Howard accused her employer, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) of discrimination and harassment.
But a tribunal concluded the 39-year-old would complain of victimisation ‘if she does not like what is happening or is prevented from doing the work she chooses’.
The hearing was told she left her temporary job with the IPCC after falsifying timesheets and for poor performance.
Dismissing all 33 of Miss Howard’s allegations, Judge Joanna Wade said her claims to be the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ were unfounded. In a damning ruling, the judge suggested a £37,000 payout in a previous action against the Metropolitan Police four years ago lay behind her claim against the IPCC.
The former firearms officer suffered from an ‘astonishing’ lack of perspective and ‘very poor’ judgment, it was said.
The judge said: ‘We are left with the uncomfortable conclusion that the claimant has an unshakeable but incorrect belief that if she does not like what is happening or is prevented from doing the work she chooses, this is discrimination [or] victimisation.’
In a written ruling, the judge added that for an experienced detective her ‘judgment throughout was very poor’.
She went on: ‘Her lack of perspective is astonishing. It gives rise to concern that winning a tribunal claim may have a detrimental effect on future judgment.’
Miss Howard, of Coulsdon, Surrey, rose to prominence after appearing in an official Scotland Yard poster to promote the 2012 London Olympic security operation holding a firearm.
She served 14 years with the Metropolitan Police but quit in 2015 after she won a discrimination payout.
A tribunal found she was bullied, harassed and victimised while serving as one of only two black women officers in the force’s 700-strong Diplomatic Protection Group. She went on to apply for a temporary post as an investigator at the IPCC, now known as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
But she resigned after just five months while facing suspension and dismissal amid claims she submitted inaccurate timesheets.
Her final month was spent on sick leave for ‘stress’ and after suffering a ‘laser injury’ to her neck.
Within months, Miss Howard brought a fresh employment case against the police watchdog, accusing it of racism, victimisation and harassment. The Central London Employment Tribunal heard she won a post in September 2016 using her married name – after a first application in her maiden name was unsuccessful.
Judge Wade said Miss Howard’s logic in claiming discrimination over the decision not to shortlist her at her first attempt to get a job was ‘troubling’ as her application was of ‘poor quality’.
She said: ‘It is, chronologically, the first of many [incidents] showing the claimant has a poor ability to judge whether a situation is “terrible” or entirely understandable once the context is known.’
Miss Howard claimed the watchdog was ‘institutionally racist and corrupt’ and alleged that other ethnic minority staff felt the same. She complained she was barred from working on any cases involving her former force, even though the judge said it was ‘perfectly sensible’.
And the tribunal dismissed her attempt to claim the work she was given at the watchdog was ‘quite dull’. It also criticised her for working on confidential inquiries on the train and in a nearby branch of Starbucks.
Miss Howard is now under investigation by the Information Commissioner for allegedly downloading sensitive data from the IPCC’s computers after her employment.
IOPC director general Michael Lockwood said he was pleased with the judgment, adding: ‘We maintained throughout the tribunal that the claimant’s accusations were without foundation and this judgment vindicates our position.’