Police officer who cried racism loses all 33 cases
Ex-poster girl for Met force is slammed by a judge in ruling on her £144k claim
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 lost her temporary job with the IPCC after falsifying time sheets 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 and suggested a £37,000 payout in an action against the Metropolitan Police four years ago lay behind her latest claim.
The judge said: ‘We are left with the uncomfortable conclusion 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 Met Police but quit in 2015 after she won a discrimination payout after a tribunal found she was bullied while one of only two black women officers in the force’s 700-strong Diplomatic Protection Group.
She then applied for a temporary post as an investigator at the IPCC, now the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
But she resigned after just five months while facing dismissal over inaccurate time sheets.
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’. Miss Howard claimed the watchdog was ‘institutionally racist’. She complained she was barred from working on any cases involving her former force, but the judge said this was ‘perfectly sensible’.
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.