'Racist' police members pinned up a poster of men doing Nazi salute
‘Racist’ police squad members pinned up a poster of bare chested men with shaved heads doing a Nazi salute, misconduct panel hears
- The ‘toxic’ incidents were described at a police disciplinary hearing
Members of a ‘racist’ police squad pinned up a poster of skinheads displaying Swastikas and giving the Nazi salute on the wall of their police station, a police misconduct hearing was told today.
One of the five officers was also heard to call a black motorist a ‘c**n’ in a fit of road rage while on duty on another occasion, it is alleged.
The ‘toxic and offensive’ incidents were described at a police disciplinary hearing where a police inspector and four constables face allegations of gross misconduct.
The officers are alleged to have nurtured a culture of ‘racist, misogynistic and homophobic’ behaviour while serving for Dorset Police’s Force Support Group based in Bournemouth.
A lot of the inappropriate conduct was played out on a Whatsapp group called ‘The Real FSG’ where offensive messages and images were shared amongst the male officers, it was said.
Dorset Police Headquarters HQ Winfrith Building
The hearing heard evidence from another officer who was shocked to walk into the office one day to find someone had put the Nazi-themed poster on the wall.
The officer, known only as Witness A, said: ‘I came in and I remember someone saying you won’t believe this.
‘There was wall art. One was an A4 piece of paper with half a dozen men bare chested with shaven heads.
‘It looked like they were in a prison and they had Swastikas and they were doing the Nazi salute.
‘It was taken down after one or two days. I was incredibly shocked when I saw that picture. I don’t know who put it up. There were so many different wall arts.’
The officer told how he was in a patrol van with one of the accused, PC Mark Jordan-Gill, when he heard him shout out racist abuse at a motorist.
He added: ‘We were driving in a van towards Tuckton. We were slowing down to let someone out in front of us and PC Jordan-Gill shouted out ‘just hurry up you c**n’.’
In response, the witness said another officer, PC Matthew Young, said ‘Woah, it’s like being back in the Met’.
The hearing was told that language and behaviour would have ‘shocked any member of the public’.
Of the five accused officers, PC Paul Perdrisat was described as the ‘alpha male’ of the unit and was behind most of the offensive comments and bullying, it is alleged.
The officers – Inspector Nicholas Mantle, PC Michael Lowther, PC Jordan-Gill, PC Young were also guilty of gross misconduct as they failed to report the behaviour, it was said.
The hearing hears how PC Perdrisat, who has since left the force, is accused of bullying Witness A.
The complainant said that PC Perdrisat admitted to him that he ‘picked on the weakest link to get rid of them’.
The officers are accused of breaching professional standards and face a week-long tribunal hearing at Dorset Police HQ at Winfrith, near Dorchester.
They deny the allegations.
Mark Ley-Morgan, representing Dorset Police, said the incidents happened between 2018 to 2021.
The Force Response Group is a fast-response unit that deals with sudden outbreaks of public disorder in Bournemouth town centre.
Mr Ley-Morgan said: ‘The background of this case is that it concerns alleged misconduct. It concerns behaviour of officers between 2018-2021. They were all members of the Force Support Group in Bournemouth.
‘It concerns discriminatory comments primarily by one officer, the one who is not here. To a lesser extent a couple of the allegations apply to other officers.
‘We have the WhatsApp messages from June 14 to October 22, 2020.
‘Some are sexual messages, others are homophobic. They are bullying, offensive and inappropriate.
‘The officers in the group should have stopped it immediately. It should have been reported.’
Witness A told the hearing of how the bullying behaviour led to him to contemplate suicide.
He said: ‘It was a toxic atmosphere and PC Perdrisat was the alpha male.
‘I was told by PC Perdrisat “I pick on the weakest link to get rid of them”.
‘I just didn’t want to come to work. Everything you did was just not good enough.
‘I didn’t want to get up in the morning. I thought about taking my own life.’
The four officers who are attending the hearing deny the allegations of gross misconduct.
Guy Ladenburg, representing PC Jordan-Gill, said: ‘There is humour in a team. A lot of witnesses describe that this humour is a necessary mechanism to keep up morale in the force when doing difficult work.
‘You accept that some people’s tolerance for some jokes might be higher than others. They (the other officers) might not realise if someone is upset about it unless you told them.’
The hearing continues.
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