Three police officers in UK accused of racist remarks on WhatsApp

A police officer has been suspended and two others placed on restricted duties after allegedly racist remarks were exchanged on a WhatsApp group under an image of the British actor and writer Kayode Ewumi.

In the exchange on the social media app one of the officers posted a meme of Ewumi, 26, 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 WhatsApp 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. The incident is under investigation by the police force’s professional standards department.

The officer’s 17-year-old son was very angry when he saw the images and challenged the officers. The officers did not realise they were communicating with the officer’s son and said the images and comments were a dig at a white female colleague and that it was “harmless fun”.

The officer’s son told the Guardian: “I felt it was my duty to speak out about this. It has really upset my family. I’m speechless and shocked. I think we should expect more from police officers. I’m kind of anti-police now.”

Attiq Malik of Liberty Law Solicitors, who is bringing an action against the police force on behalf of the BAME officer who received the WhatsApp messages, said: “We cannot allow behaviour such as this to go unchallenged and continue, it is in the public interest and that of justice to expose and hold to account those who perpetuate allegedly racist narratives.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire constabulary 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. We take any allegations of this nature incredibly seriously and do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We are committed to ensuring all officers and staff act with the utmost integrity and professionalism.

“Two officers have been placed on restricted duties and a third suspended whilst the investigation takes place. Given the ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

In a separate incident Cambridgeshire constabulary said it was examining footage dating back to 2015 which has been posted on social media as part of Black Lives Matter campaigns, in which a black driver is pulled over by a white police officer.

Ewumi told the Guardian he did not wish to comment on the incident.