Three Metropolitan Police officers in a WhatsApp group with a boss who made offensive comments about rape, race and disabled people have avoided the sack.
PCs Rafi Kentafi Lindill, James Humphrey and Craig Hawkins did not challenge the supervisor, who is of Pakistani origin, even when he used the p-word to describe an Asian person, a gross misconduct panel heard.
The man - Officer A - referred to a rape victim as a ‘c***’ who should be locked up and suggested she probably got “raw dogged” in a park by “two blokes after a night out and regrets it”.
He crudely labelled female colleagues “mental or slags or both’ and discussed “anally raping” another officer.
Others were called a “retard” and “spastic” in a series of messages on the “Here we Goooooo” chat between December 2021 and May 2022.
Lindill, who is of Moroccan descent, Humphrey and Hawkins had been probationers on a response team based in Lambeth and Southwark, south London.
Officer A was a senior, older and respected member of the squad.
Scotland Yard said he had been dismissed on March 28 following separate accelerated proceedings.
Lindill admitted the comments were “deeply shameful, derogatory and wholly unacceptable” but saw Officer A as his role model.
Humphrey said he was in fear of repercussions if he reported the messages. Hawkins denied seeing all of them but did not “endorse or repeat” the WhatsApp group contents.
Commander Katie Lilburn, who chaired the disciplinary hearing, found the trio breached standards of professional behaviour to a misconduct level only. They were issued with 18 and 24-month written warnings.
Cmdr Lilburn said their behaviour had the potential to bring reputational damage on the Met, as well as undermining public confidence in tackling rape and violence against women and girls at a time of national scrutiny.
But she believed the officers would take a “salutary lesson on the dangers of WhatsApp groups”, adding: “I hope you all go on to have a long career and share your learning and experience to deter others from making the same mistakes as you have.”
