Six police officers in the Hampshire Police Serious Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) have been found guilty of gross misconduct after they were overheard using homophobic, misogynistic and racist language in the workplace. Detective sergeant Oliver Lage, detective sergeant Gregory Willcox, constable James Oldfield, trainee detective constable Andrew Ferguson, retired detective inspector Tim Ireson and former constable Craig Bannerman were all placed on trial after reports of misconduct and found guilty on December 14. According to the BBC, disciplinary action was also taken against 14 other officers and police staff from the unit.
Through recording devices placed in the SOCU office in Basingstoke, the police officers were found using anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and discriminating against a black colleague. Recordings heard one officer referring to gay men as ‘queers’ and another calling women ‘sluts’. They were also heard joking about drowning migrants. All six initially denied the allegations of gross misconduct, but constable Oldfield admitted in an interview that jokes made about migrants drowning were “in poor taste”.
Jason Beer, a representative of the Hampshire constabulary, criticised the police officers in question and attributes the ‘toxic culture’ in the office to a lack of leadership, saying: “The SOCU office is in relative isolation to the rest of the force due to the covert nature of their activities. A lack of leadership and supervision appears to have led to a toxic and abhorrent culture developing. A toxic and abhorrent culture is in breach of values and standards of the police service.”
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