Northern Ireland

Concerns over PSNI whistle-blower allegations to be raised

Chief Constable Simon Byrne
Chief Constable Simon Byrne Chief Constable Simon Byrne

POLICING Board members have voiced concerns over claims made in a BBC investigation that police officers in a WhatsApp group exchanged sexist, pornographic and racist messages.

Some of the messages included abusive language about senior female officers ,while images of sex toys are said to have been photoshopped on to the faces of female officers.

The messages were exposed after two whistleblowers began looking into alleged performance failings in the Causeway Coast and Glens policing district in early 2020, at the start of the Covid pandemic.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne told Spotlight the type of messages displayed in the WhatsApp group were "wholly unacceptable".

Sinn Féin policing spokesman Gerry Kelly said he hopes to raise the matter with chief constable.

“In particular I will be raising the need to protect and support whistle-blowers within the PSNI, as well as raising accusations made of misogyny and sectarianism,” he said.

“The type of culture described in the programme cannot be tolerated within any police service whose duty it is to protect citizens and to be representative of society as a whole.

“It’s vital for public confidence in policing that the PSNI is transparent, accountable and fair.”

SDLP Foyle MLA Sinéad McLaughlin said she was “horrified” by the revelations.

“That serving police officers are sharing material of this kind a group with their colleagues raises serious questions about their behaviour and judgement,” she said.

DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke said the recent revelations raise questions for the PSNI.

"People must have confidence that crimes reported to the police will be properly investigated and they must also have confidence in the officers carrying out that process,” he said.

“The revelations in this programme undermine both of these.”

A spokesman for the Police Ombudsman last night said the issues raised have not been referred to Marie Anderson's office.

“The Police Ombudsman will consider any public complaints that she receives relating to the conduct issues identified in the Spotlight programme and the issues identified have not been referred to the ombudsman for independent investigation by PSNI,” she said.

Chairman of the Policing Board Doug Garrett said the body expects officers to be professional at all times.

“The Board expects all police officers and police staff to act professionally and ethically in the delivery of their duties, and that those ethics apply both on and off duty, on and off line,” he said.

“This is central to confidence in the service and those delivering that service.”

A PSNI spokesman said: “There was no public complaint in this matter”.