![\"Eight](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/if.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHe also revealed that a further three officers have been dismissed without notice in recent months in similar circumstances after \u201cwholly inappropriate material\u201d was shared amongst groups.<\/p>\n
The officer\u2019s dismissal followed an investigation by the Police Ombudsman.<\/p>\n
The texts, sent via WhatsApp over a number of months, including when the officer was on duty, contained material that was sectarian, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and sexualised.<\/p>\n
The complainant contacted the Ombudsman when the officer continued to send the material, despite having been asked to stop on two occasions.<\/p>\n
Nikki Davis, director of investigations with the Police Ombudsman\u2019s Office, said it was \u201csustained, consistent behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDigital analysis of the police officer\u2019s phone showed that he had sent multiple images and videos, which were highly inappropriate and offensive, to the complainant, other members of the public and other police officers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was not a one-off, isolated incident, which could potentially be attributed to a lapse in judgement. It was sustained, consistent behaviour, exacerbated by the police officer\u2019s view, when interviewed by our investigators, that he did not consider the material to be offensive or his actions to be in breach of the PSNI code of ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight officers who received the messages and failed to report or challenge them were referred to PSNI and have been subject to management action in relation to \u201cpotential breaches\u201d of the PSNI\u2019s Code of Ethics.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eight police officers who received the messages and failed to report or challenge them were referred to PSNI in relation to potential breaches of the PSNI code of ethics. Stock image<\/p>\n
News catch-up Thursday 31st July<\/p>\n
The Police Ombudsman\u2019s Office also found some of the material was an example of \u201conline gender-based hate speech\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this kind of messaging specifically targets women and combines sexual, racist and sectarian references, it moves into the realm of online gender-based hate speech,\u201d said Mrs Davis.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a police officer to display these attitudes and behaviours towards women is unacceptable, and specifically undermines the PSNI\u2019s commitment to ending violence against women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
A file was later sent to the Public Prosecution Service, which directed no prosecution.<\/p>\n
A misconduct file was then submitted to the PSNI professional standards department. The Chief Constable held a special hearing, after which the officer was dismissed. He was found to have breached a number of articles of the PSNI code of ethics.<\/p>\n
Mr Boutcher said the PSNI expects the \u201chighest standards of professionalism and integrity\u201d from all of their officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis matter was heard by myself in a Special Case Hearing and our robust actions show that we will not tolerate this damaging and unprofessional behaviour – there is no excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cPolice officers exercise significant powers, and it is vital that there is an accountability framework for officers. If the public is to have confidence that we will police without prejudice and fairly, it is essential that just as we, as the Police Service, pursue perpetrators in our communities, we are as committed to rooting out those that may be in our own ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He also revealed that a further three officers have been dismissed without notice in recent months in similar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[112716,24406,1144,1610,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-307180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-claire-williamson","9":"tag-jon-boutcher","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114949152274796219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}