Met officer’s WhatsApp chat was gross misconduct, panel finds
British Broadcasting CorporationThe head of the Metropolitan Black Police Association (MBPA) was found guilty of serious misconduct in a group chat where he sent and received racist, sexist and inappropriate messages.
Inspector Charles Ehikioya was in a WhatsApp chat with former police officer Carlo Francisco during which offensive messages were sent and received.
The official denied the allegations against him and said they were fabricated or wrongly attributed to him because of his race or position as MBPA president.
A panel found his behavior breached standards of professional conduct and said it was “severe enough to warrant dismissal”.
The panel, led by Reverend Jason Prins, found Inspector Ehikioa breached equality and diversity, discreditable conduct and questioning and reporting misconduct confirmed at Friday’s hearing standards.
No decision has been made yet on whether to fire him.
It was previously heard that in more than 7,000 messages between 2017 and 2020, the officer allegedly sent and received jokes, pictures and videos.
It was previously reported that he sent a photo of the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner with the comment “a message from the other side telling Muslims there are no more 72 virgins left.”
There was also a series of “racist” messages targeting Chinese people, the hearing heard.
James Berry, representing the Met, said the chats also contained jokes about having sex with a girl with Down syndrome and a mocking of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s car crash, as well as a video , in which a child was naked buttocks. Before.
public mediaThe hearing heard that on April 1, 2019, Inspector Ehikioya told Mr Francisco to “stop sending or receiving this stupid pornography”, saying he could get into “trouble”.
Rev. Prince said the panel “found that Inspector Ehikioa engaged in racist, sexist, misogynistic and other inappropriate conduct.”
He added: “The panel found that the information was largely self-evident.”
He also said they found his defense to the charges “fanciful” and “far-fetched.”
“The panel found that information sent or received by Inspector Ehikioya that he failed to challenge or report seriously undermined public confidence in the police service,” Commander Prince said.
The hearing was postponed until later on Friday to allow the panel to consider its sanctions.
