Leicestershire Police inspector demoted after misconduct hearing

A Leicestershire Police inspector has been demoted after a misconduct hearing found she had been racist towards a junior colleague. The officer, who has not been named publicly by the force, had her rank reduced to that of sergeant.

The officer immediately resigned when the demotion decision was delivered, and now no longer works for Leicestershire Police, the force said. She was accused of making a comment towards Pc Francis-Wint which questioned his heritage as a member of the black community while he was “sharing a difficult professional experience”.

Pc Francis-Wint told a misconduct hearing the comment left him “feeling like he is a second-class and not valued by the force because of his heritage”. He also raised concerns over how this behaviour might impact the public, saying: “If police officers can be racist towards one of their colleagues, they can definitely be racist towards a member of the public.”

The then-inspector apologised for her comments the same day, misconduct documents state. However, the misconduct panel overseeing the case said that the apology was “not immediate” and “appeared to have been prompted by one of the shift sergeants raising the issue” with her.

The officer had a duty of “sensitivity and care” towards her more junior colleague, and had also received “significant training in equality and diversity”, the report added. The panel accepted that she did not “plan to cause offence”, was “genuinely remorseful” and had “taken proactive steps to develop awareness”, but said it was “obvious” her words would have been offensive.

The panel added: “Policing faces significant and long-term challenges building trust with sections of our local communities. It is a widely known fact that confidence in policing amongst the black community is markedly less than in the wider population.

“Trust building is a painstaking process which takes both time and effort. Those efforts can be undermined by the actions of a single officer in a single incident.”

The inspector’s actions would have been likely to cause “significant damage to public trust in policing”, the panel ruled. It added that the comments could also cause damage within the force in terms of recruitment, retention and the confidence of staff.

Panel members concluded: “This conduct is entirely unacceptable both in terms of policing a diverse community and managing a diverse organisation.”

The panel said it considered giving the officer a final written warning, but decided that would “simply not reflect the seriousness of this matter”. However, it said it also felt dismissal would not be “appropriate” as it did not feel the inspector intended to cause offence.

Reduction in rank to sergeant would be “enough to make it entirely clear that the force will not tolerate such comments”, panel members decided.

Assistant Chief Constable Adam Streets, who chaired the hearing, said: “The comment made to a junior colleague caused significant personal harm and undermined both organisational and public confidence. It is vitally important that officers have the confidence to come forwards and I am extremely grateful to the officer for having the courage to do so.

“Whilst the panel accepts that the inspector did not intend to cause offence and was genuinely remorseful, we cannot and will not tolerate such comments being made.”

The panel also ruled that the former inspector be granted anonymity “to protect the welfare of others”.