Police Ombudsman says it would be 'inappropriate' to reveal the WhatsApp messages which got police officer sacked

The ombudsman's office had deemed the contents of the WhatsApp chats "offensive" and "highly inappropriate", but has declined to reveal their actual contents on the grounds that this too would be "inappropriate".

The police have likewise refused to elaborate on the contents of the messages, which also led to action against other officers for not reporting them.

Jon Burrows, the former head of the PSNI's internal discipline branch (and now UUP MLA for North Antrim), has said the ombudsman should try to be as transparent as possible so that other officers are clear on what kind of things could get them into trouble.

At the end of July, announcing the officer's dismissal following both its own investigation and a PSNI gross misconduct hearing, the Police Ombudsman's office had said the messages "contained material which was sectarian, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and sexualised" and "some of the material is also an example of online gender-based hate speech".

The messages came to light after a complainant contacted the ombudsman.

It was not clear to whom all the messages were sent – whether to individuals, or to groups.

For example it could be a situation in which one member of a shared group reported the messages, but others didn't, though neither police nor ombudsman have given any information on that.

Meanwhile the officer himself "did not consider the material to be offensive or his actions to be in breach of the PSNI Code of Ethics".

Asked for more detail, the ombudsman's office said: "Sharing the detail of the discriminatory messages, given their content, which included naked and semi-naked images of women, disparaging or sexual references to females and female anatomy, would be inappropriate.

"However, as well as the offensive nature of the messages themselves, legislation places restrictions on the disclosure of information about our investigations, which would include this material."

Specifically, it cited Section 63 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998.

Asked the same thing, the PSNI said it had nothing to add beyond a statement it had released two weeks ago, which said: "The messages repeatedly shared by this former constable were shocking, wholly inappropriate and discriminatory.

"The attitudes of sectarianism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and misogyny within these messages have no place in policing.

"The police officers who received the messages and failed to report or challenge them were subject to management action in relation to potential breaches of our Code of Ethics.

“A further three officers have been dismissed without notice in recent months in similar circumstances following wholly inappropriate material being shared amongst groups."

Mr Burrows said: "Clearly, the public should expect officers to be of the highest standards and not display any biases or prejudices, because they're expected to uphold the rule of law impartially.

"However, it is really important that both the police and the public have a clear understanding of what the standards are – where the line between needing some sort of advice and guidance about an inappropriate comment ends, and what amounts to behaviour that would be career-threatening.

"In a world of social media and WhatsApp groups where there's lots of information flying about, there needs to be a transparency with officers about where those lines are drawn.

"I think the ombudsman and [PSNI] professional standards should be as much about prevention as detection, and they should be out making it transparent to the officers what sort of behaviours have resulted in this case in a dismissal."

He believes publishing the literal transcript of the messages might be difficult, because it could require the consent of the person who complained about them to begin with.

Lord Young of Acton, founder of the Free Speech Union, told the News Letter: "No should lose their job over a joke or meme shared with colleagues on WhatsApp."