The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Police investigated over racism claim
One officer suspended over social media allegations
A Peterborough police officer has been suspended after a complaint about a racist message on a social media site was raised.
The Guardian reported that allegedly racist remarks were exchanged on a WhatsApp group under an image of the British actor and writer Kayode Ewumi.
In the exchange one of the officers posted a meme of Ewumi, which went viral in 2017. The image shows Ewumi as his character Reece Simpson, aka Roll Safe, in the BBC Three comedy #HoodDocumentary, where he taps his finger to the side of his head having just thought of something.
Underneath the image of Ewumi, a second police officer wrote the word “monkey” then posted an image of a baby monkey hanging on to a tree branch. A third officer wrote “lol” underneath the image of the monkey.
The exchange was between a group of police officers who are members of an internal team in Cambridgeshire constabulary. The team mainly consists of white officers.
But one BAME officer in the team made an official complaint after receiving the messages on his family mobile phone, where it was seen by his three children.
A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said: “We are aware of an exchange on WhatsApp between officers in Peterborough in early May.
“A complaint was made about allegedly racist content within these messages and a referral was made to the Independent
Office for Police Conduct who directed that an investigation should be conducted by our Professional Standards Department.
“Two officers have been placed on restricted duties and a third suspended whilst the investigation takes place. ”
The investigation into the messages comes just a month after a video of a Cambridgeshire police officer in Ely came to light. The video, which dates to 2015, shows an unidentified officer telling a driver “we don’t get many young black males in this area”.
Chief Constable Nick Dean said: “Racism and disproportionality have been raised within policing circles for many years and various reports, reviews and recommendations have been published. Some have gained traction and resulted in some positive steps to rid racism from policing, however there is still work to do.
“I take any allegation of racism incredibly seriously and the constabulary will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. I and my chief officers team are committed to ensuring all officers and staff act with the utmost integrity and professionalism at all times.”
“Reports concerning the alleged conduct of a few Cambridgeshire officers may have raised public concern.
“Any form of discrimination has no place within policing. These allegations relate to one or two incidents concerning a small minority of officers and the alleged conduct does not reflect the values or standards that are demonstrated every day across Cambridgeshire
Constabulary.”
Acting Police and Crime CommissionerRay Bisby condemned racism and added: “I will have an independent scrutiny group in place, with the aim of achieving greater transparency and community involvement, and be representative of the communities the constabulary serves. It will be empowered to provide observations and feedback which together play an important role in monitoring performance and identifying opportunities for learning for the constabulary.’’