Police officer reinstated after using racial slur

A police officer recently reinstated to his role after he was sacked last year was fired because he used a racial slur to refer to a black woman.

Jack Thrumble used it in a WhatsApp conversation while working as volunteer special constable for Dorset Police in February 2021.

He later joined Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and was sacked by that force after the content of his messages was revealed and found to be discriminatory.

But he appealed and he was given back his job as a police constable in April after the Police Appeals Tribunal downgraded a previous gross misconduct finding to misconduct.

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Documents show that in a WhatsApp conversation with two other special constables, PC Thrumble shared a picture of a black woman who had liked his profile on the Tinder dating app.

He said she was "too black for me" and added: "If I wanted some hot chocolate in my life I would go to Costa," according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation.

The three-person tribunal that reinstated PC Thrumble included Cdr Katie Lilburn, the head of the Metropolitan Police's professional standards department.

It said the previous panel last year was "entitled to conclude" that PC Thrumble's language was discriminatory and reference to the woman's colour "amounted to her being treated unfairly owing to the membership of her ethnic group".

But it said it was not serious enough to warrant a finding of gross misconduct and that it was rather "a lapse of judgement by a young special constable".

It said positive references from other police officers showed that "this behaviour does not and will not be found in his dealings with colleagues or members of the public in the future".

PC Thrumble, the tribunal was told, "still remains absolutely devastated" by his behaviour and "feels sick to the core" about it.

The tribunal ordered that he be paid retrospectively by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary from when he was sacked until his reinstatement.

It added that "if a member of the public, of any gender or ethnicity, were to know the full facts of this case, which include how [PC Thrumble] has consistently dealt with public-facing duties through his career, they would not be put off speaking to or having their matter dealt with by [him]".

When he was sacked, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary's Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya said the "use of discriminatory language is utterly at odds with the values the public are rightly entitled to expect from police".

The force said it stood by Ms de Reya's comment, which it said was why the officer faced disciplinary action.

In a statement, it added: "The PAT [Police Appeals Tribunal] ruled misconduct and determined the sanction."

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