Pc who said Adolf Hitler had 'never done him any harm' because they never met is dismissed from force

A police officer who said Adolf Hitler had 'never done him any harm' because he had "never met him personally" has been dismissed from a force

Pc David Alston was involved in a WhatsApp group with friends who served in the Army Reserves that exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic "banter", a misconduct tribunal was told. 

In the messages, the disgraced Essex Police response officer referred to a "pikey killings trial" and said Asians "reproduce like 3/1 compared to us".

The former Royal Signals soldier even described a waitress working in a London bar as a "hot black chick", "umbongo" and "coco angel" when out with friends.

In one exchange, a friend wrote: "Dave's your stereotypical copper. He doesn't like blacks."

And when discussing Adolf Hitler, Alston wrote: "He has never done any of us any harm."

The group of 10 friends also shared extreme pornography, and Alston failed to challenge homophobic slurs and joked about gay sex

A misconduct panel held in Chelmsford Civic Centre heard the messages were uncovered after a member of the group was arrested for domestic violence and common assault.

Police seized the phone and downloaded Alston's messages after the suspect was arrested.

Alston left the WhatsApp group in September 2017 after resigning from the armed forces - but was hauled in front of investigators for the messages sent between March and June of that year.

Father-of-one Alston said he accepted his comments were racist and discriminatory and admitted gross misconduct. He also apologised for using "a very poor choice of words".

Under cross examination about his Adolf Hitler remark, Alston said: "I have never met him personally, he died in 1945, I have never met him.

"I don't come from a Jewish family, I did have a great grandad who fought in the war, but he never did me any harm."

Mitigation heard that he had never used the language with his police colleagues or shown any prejudice whilst serving the public.

Alston joined the force in 2013 after working as a PCSO and served in the Army Reserve for more than 10 years.

Detective Superintendent Dean Chapple, head of the Essex Police's professional standards department, said: "PC Alston was a highly respected and capable officer however his conduct, whilst off duty and in the presence of selected friends who were not associated with policing, fell way below the standards we expect of our officers and in no way represents our values. 

"All police officers are responsible for their own actions and we cannot just turn off those standards and values in policing when it suits a given environment or group."