Police punished over anti-gay slurs

Published on Tuesday 24 November 2009 08:39

TWO police officers have been disciplined after sending homophobic e-mails to colleagues in the Gay Police Association and the force choir, it emerged today.

The officers, based at Leith police station, faced misconduct hearings after the offensive messages were traced back to them.

The pair had used a colleague's computer, which had been left turned on, to send the e-mails without his knowledge, but when the recipients of the slurs complained to force bosses, the culprits were tracked down to the station.

Gay rights campaigners said the incident had to be taken "extremely seriously", and urged senior officers to ensure it was clear that similar behaviour will "never be tolerated".

Police chiefs today confirmed the two officers had undergone disciplinary procedures, but would not reveal how they had been punished.

Christina Stokes, spokeswoman for Stonewall Scotland, said: "A good employer will take incidents like this extremely seriously and make it clear that homophobic behaviour will never be tolerated.

"It's particularly important to do this when Lothian and Borders Police have been working to build bridges with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."

A police source said: "These officers took advantage of someone else's computer at the station to send e-mails in their name. They found their system was still on so they could use it.

"They sent messages to staff in the Gay Police Association slagging them off, and the police choir, basically inferring they were gay because of that. They were just nasty attacks.

"When people complained,"Professionals standards traced the messages back to the officer whose computer it was.

"Of course, he knew nothing about it but subsequently they were able to find those responsible.

"There's a lot of ill-will about it because other Leith officers were taken to task by bosses for a previous computer-related incident which was far less serious.

"This was homophobic abuse."

The Gay Police Association works to bring about equal opportunities for gay police employees, and offers advice and support to gay officers.

In June, 70 association members from around the UK participated in uniform for the first time at Scotland's biggest gay pride march in the Capital.

The Lothian and Borders Police choir – which rehearses every Sunday night at police HQ at Fettes – has attracted more than 50 members from constables to chief inspectors, and was the first of its kind in Scotland.

Councillor Iain Whyte, convener of the police board, said: "These officers have been brought before a disciplinary hearing and hopefully an appropriate course of action has followed on from that.

"It's not something that anyone can condone."

A police spokesman confirmed that two officers had been investigated and "undergone disciplinary proceedings following misuse of force computers".

OFFICER'S RACIST E-MAIL JOKE ABOUT OBAMA

A POLICE officer who was disciplined by force chiefs for sending a racist e-mail to colleagues sent a doctored image of US leader Barack Obama's presidential plane, the Evening News can reveal.

The Lothian and Borders officer was hauled in front of a misconduct hearing after being caught sending the picture by force chiefs.

The image featured a photograph of Air Force One with a "new tail number" which had been digitally altered to produce a racist slur about America's first black president.

Police chiefs said the officer, who is understood to based at Drylaw police station, was punished following the incident.