West Midlands police officer sacked for racist comments about colleagues

A West Midlands police officer has been sacked from the force for making racist and inappropriate comments about his colleagues.

The officer appeared before an independent misconduct panel on Thursday, which unanimously agreed that he should be dismissed without notice.

The identity of the officer has been withheld due to the nature of his work, West Midlands Police said.

The officer had previously been given a final written warning when he appeared before an independent panel in September last year, but the force successfully challenged its decision, resulting in a further hearing today.

Head of Professional Standards, Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Todd, said: "It was clear in this case that this officer felt it acceptable to talk about other colleagues in a racist way.

"It was always our case that any officer or member of staff in West Midlands Police behaving in that way should be dismissed.

"There is no place for racism in policing and if we don’t eliminate it internally we cannot expect the public, particularly those from black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, to put their trust in us. It was the right thing to do therefore to challenge the original decision at the High Court.

"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."