Six former Metropolitan Police officers have been charged with sending “grossly offensive” racist messages on WhatsApp, the power mentioned.
The officers, who retired between 2001 and 2015, have been charged by submit below the Communications Act.
The males labored in varied components of the Metropolitan Police all through their careers – however weren’t serving on the time of the alleged offences.
They all hung out within the Diplomatic Protection Group, now generally known as the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command.
The expenses observe an investigation by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, which was launched following protection by the BBC’s Newsnight programme in October final yr.
The Metropolitan Police say through the investigation it was discovered that inappropriate communications have been shared inside a closed WhatsApp group from August 2018 till September 2022.
Police say the six males charged weren’t serving throughout their participation within the group.
They are because of seem at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 7 September.
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Commander James Harman, who leads the Met’s Anti-Corruption and Abuse Command, mentioned: “As soon as we were made aware of these allegations, we acted to launch an investigation.
“I’m happy that following the decided work of officers, we’ve been in a position to safe these expenses.
“We are working relentlessly to rebuild the trust of the public which has understandably been dented by a number of high profile incidents and investigations in recent years which have involved officers or former officers.”
He added: “The honest majority of Met officers are fully behind this work.
“They are bored with being let down by a minority in policing and they’re conscious of the injury poor behaviour can do to our relationship with the communities we serve.
“I recognise announcements about the outcome of our investigations may have the potential to cause further public concern, but I hope it demonstrates our absolute commitment to investigate any corrupt and abusive behaviour from the Met.”
Source: information.sky.com”