Activists supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in Birmingham have urged the West Midlands Police to name the officer who was sacked for making “racist and inappropriate comments” about some of his colleagues.
An independent misconduct panel had given the officer “a final written warning” in September last year, but the force legally challenged the decision. The panel has now “unanimously agreed” that the officer, whose identity was withheld, should be “dismissed without notice”. But activists from the area’s Black community have described the police force of “protecting racists” after it failed to disclose the personal details of the officer as has been done following similar previous cases.
Earlier this week, the Independent Office for Police Conduct had announced a review into whether forces discriminate against ethnic minorities. Commenting on the case, Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Todd, head of Professional Standards, West Midlands Police said,
“It was clear in this case that this officer felt it acceptable to talk about other colleagues in a racist way.
“There is no place for racism in policing and if we don’t eliminate it internally we cannot expect the public, particularly those from BAME communities, to put their trust in us.
“I hope now that this outcome will give confidence to our colleagues across policing to report such behaviour knowing that they will be supported; and that it will give confidence to our communities that they can trust West Midlands Police to root out racism.”
According to the West Midlands Police the officer’s identity was being “withheld due to the nature of his work”.
The West Midlands Police witnessed “a record year” in terms of applications to join the force, with about half of them coming from women, and at least 28 per cent from BAME communities.
