Racist text cops lose plea

Exclusive by John Scheerhout

August 26, 2005

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TEXT: Officers admitted the offence.

FOUR policemen sacked for exchanging a racist text message have lost a bid to win back their jobs.

Greater Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd upheld the decision to dismiss the officers when they appealed against the original punishment.

Their barrister argued that while their actions were abhorrent they should have been punished in another way, for instance a fine, rather being dismissed.

Paul Kelly, of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said: "The officers involved have clearly done wrong and their actions were abhorrent. However, what we were seeking was proportionality in the sanctions imposed on these individuals.

"We don't believe what they did merited them getting the sack. They could and should have been punished in some other way which allowed them to keep their jobs."

Offensive

It is understood other examples of alleged racism by officers who were allowed to keep their jobs formed part of the argument made to Mr Todd.

The four sacked officers may now take their case to an independent police tribunal.

Mr Kelly said: "We are considering an appeals tribunal."

The offensive text found on the four officers' private mobile phones was written in the form of a joke.

A police inspector reported it to his bosses after one of the men showed him the message. A 10-month investigation was held and the four were sacked after an internal disciplinary tribunal. They were the first serving officers to be dismissed by the force over a racist text message.

Three of them were based in Salford and the fourth was based in south Manchester. The officers - who have not been named - admitted "sending, receiving or showing a racist text message to colleagues."

The Manchester Evening News revealed in October last year that two of the officers had been removed from frontline duties after the text message emerged.

Investigations

Investigations into the two other officers were launched after the text's origins were traced.

We reported how all four were sacked last month.

A statement from GMP said: "A hearing was held at Chester House last Tuesday, August 18.

"The Chief Constable's review found that the decision made at the original tribunal should stand."

The sacking happened just weeks after Mr Todd admitted an anti-racist letter sent to the homes of 11,000 GMP staff to reinforce force policy had been poorly worded and badly managed, although he stood by its message.

In April, the Manchester Evening News revealed how a GMP civilian who sent a racist e-mail showing a picture of a South African beauty queen with a monkey's head superimposed on her body was given a written warning but allowed to keep his job by the force's personnel department.

The e-mail was found during a routine trawl of the force's computers.

Are you glad or sad the policemen have lost their appeal? Have your say.

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Ron Traps, manchester (26/08/2005 at 10:31)

I think its disgusting these officers have lost there jobs. If we have guide lines for racisim then it should apply to everone, by this i mean that if an ethnic minority person is rasist they should be treated the same as these officers, but they are not. As an example: i have a family member who works for a large bank, the banks policy for any customers racially abusing any black or asian staff is to stop and cancel their accounts, which is right - but if a member of the public calls my family member any names (she is Irish) it is not deemed rasist. also if a black or asian customer racially abuses a white member of staff this is also classed as not racist. Now im not saying racism doesnt exsist because it does, but we must remember its not just white people who are rasist...

Withheld, Manchester (26/08/2005 at 11:33)

Maybe your right on some points Ron, but those police officers are in a professional position and should act accordingly. If you get caught you pay the price for your actions.

Ron Traps, manchester (26/08/2005 at 11:38)

Withheld, Manchester... Do you think the out come would have been the same if the officers had not been white?

Bucko, davenport (26/08/2005 at 14:24)

Nothing suprises me with the GMP.

SB, Oldham (26/08/2005 at 15:31)

Ron Trapps - Please check your message before you send it off - as there is a lot of spelling mistakes, grammatical error etc.

I agree with some of your comments, although further clarification may give a deeper and full meaning of what you are trying to express.

I am asian, and know how it feels like to be called paki, wog, monkey. Let me tell you the pain and emotional scar it leaves. It hurts and is much more painful than physical pain.

How can someone distinguish between a white english and a white irish? Not all irish people have the strong irish accent.

Black and asian people do get a lot more flak for being who they are.

Ex.GMP Supporter, Greater Manchester (26/08/2005 at 19:39)

Withheld:Manchester.

Then why have other offences committed by an ethnic minority officer and senior officers during the last 12 months not resulted in them paying the price for their actions? I thought that being shot at dawn on a trumped up charge brought by senior officers to excuse their own failings belonged to the last century, how wrong I was !
Like then, the lions are led by donkeys.

lyn, manchester (26/08/2005 at 21:29)

I am astounded that these officers have been sacked for such a silly reason.I am sure that they did not mean to offend anyone.We are in very deep water indeed if we are going to sack everyone who dares to have a laugh and a joke with their friends.I am sure that most of our ethnic citizens have got better things to worry about than this trivia.We will end up with a force who are too afraid to even look the wrong way at anyone for fear of being branded rascist.I am sure that most right thinking people will agree that we need to back our police not have a witch hunt going on.We have to get our priorities right and stop trying to be so goody goody and remember that the ones who are the first to complain are also the ones who would like to see this country brought to its knees.I wish them all luck and i sincerely hope that they are reinstated as soon as possible.

Maverick, Manchester (27/08/2005 at 09:57)

Why not look at the bigger picture? The Police are members of the public with the same faults as the public. Surely re training would have helped?
The bigger question is Last Year there were 8,000 POLICE OFFICER ( not employees ) why now are there just over 7,000. 1) Why have they left ?.
2) When will we be down to zero. Try ringing the Police now to see how long, if at all, it takes an officer to attend at your home!

Fancy checking this out Editor?

What Human Rights?, Manchester (27/08/2005 at 19:30)

I have been following this story and cannot believe what a crazy and stupid situation this is. The 4 officers were caught and openly admitted to the incident - it is the punishment that is wrong. Let's look back: Mr Mahmood (a non-white GMP officer) drove his car in his own time without insurance etc and was involved in an accident in which people were hurt - he got his car repaired to try and cover the accident and then when caught got his wife to try and cover for him. He then tried to blame his lying on the fact that he was still traumatised by his mother's death 2 years ago and this had caused him to panic and do what he did. What he did was a criminal offence to which he was found guilty. When investigated by GMP he was given a fine and told that he could continue as an officer but would not be allowed to stand up in court against any criminal because of his own conviction. What about the GMP civilian worker earlier this year who was found to have a e-mail message on the GMP's own computer showing a black beauty queen with a monkey''s face on it - he was fined and kept his job. What these 4 (white) officers did was send/receive a message on their private phones, admitted their involvement and then lost their jobs - does that seem fair? I'm sure that if the investigation had looked more closely they would have found that more than 4 officers were in possession of the 'offensive text message' - maybe they did find others but the other officers were of a higher rank and so these 4 were made an example. Michael Todd should put a stop to all this nonsense, reinstate these officers with their jobs and stop pratting about with Manchester residents money which contributes to his salary and show the rest of the country that GMP are a good police force who stand up for what is right. I'm sure if you were to ask the majority of people in Manchester, they would think that these 4 should not have lost their jobs over this.

MYBOL, M/C (29/08/2005 at 11:39)

THEY SHOULD BE NAMED AND SHAMED LIKE THE REST OF SOCIETY.

Enigma, tRAFFORD (30/08/2005 at 10:47)

It has been suspected for some time that G.M.P. operates a POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION policy. Sadly it would now appear that this is true. No-one should condone the offence that has been committed however I thought that the Commission for Racial Equality only wanted a level playing field. Is Michael Todd that desperate to get a Knighthood? He should be told that the only previous Chief Constable to obtain this Honour was a real Police Officer and a true leader of men! Makes you want to go out crash your car, fail to stop or report the incident, repair the car, lie about it and then oh yes - keep your job! The officers should be fined and given training as a punishment or am I not seeing the economics of this? Assuming that these are experienced officers, by sacking them they lose all pension rights, G.M.P. are losing more officers than they can recruit, so they can therefore try and recruit 8 officers for the price of the 4 sacked! Or is that just cynical? Oh and S.B. Oldham Fine point you made and partially agree with you! Shame you were so pedantic and rude about someone else's spelling and grammar. Sounded like you were ignoring the right to have an opinion on these grounds.

Manchester Man, Greater Manchester (30/08/2005 at 10:58)

They should be treated like other officers in GMP when guilty of disciplinary offences, fairly and proportionately,not singled out for reasons of political expediency. The GMP action is disgraceful and should be challenged in the highest court possible. The Chief Constable and certain senior officers should examine their own behaviour, I suspect the general public would be quite surprised at the result.

Trevor, Manchester (30/08/2005 at 17:07)

The issue is really quite simple,if the alleged private offensive text message had been sent, recieved or shown by 4 Inspectors or 4 Superintendents would they have been summarily dismissed? Based on GMP policy in the last 12 months,nothing is more unlikely!! "Something stinks in the state of Denmark" or in this case,in GMP. Is there no brave employee who will blow the whistle ?

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