A former Avon and Somerset Police officer has been banned from working as a police officer after he sent racist messages in a WhatsApp group with other officers. Benjamin Kirk was part of the group chat, titled ‘Band of Brothers’ with five other Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officers who shared derogatory, racist and pornographic content within the chat.
Kirk transferred to Avon and Somerset Police in October 2020 as a student officer from the CNC. He was found culpable of committing gross misconduct by sending offensive racist messages, as well as failing to challenge or report any of the messages sent by the others in the group at a misconduct hearing back in August.
The hearing panel ruled his actions had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour including Authority, Respect and Courtesy, Challenging and Reporting Improper Behaviour, Equality and Diversity and Conduct. He was suspended from the force in October 2022 and would have been dismissed had he not already resigned. He has been barred from working in policing in the future.
Avon and Somerset Police Deputy Chief Constable Jon Reilly said: “This former officer posted and failed to challenge a series of abhorrent and grossly offensive messages. The public will be rightly horrified by his behaviour, and we welcome the panel’s decision, which will prevent Benjamin Kirk from ever holding a role in policing again.
“There must be no space for these appalling views to fester and it’s a priority for us to ensure those who send or engage in these conversations, whether on or off-duty, understand they have no place with us. There are substantial consequences for the abuse of social media platforms, including WhatsApp, with officers or staff who misuse them facing dismissal and in some cases, even a criminal court.
“We’re continuing to urge all our officers and staff to be upstanders and not bystanders, and that means calling out all forms of discrimination whenever its seen or heard, and there are confidential reporting systems in place to allow them to do this. We have a shared responsibility to restore the public’s trust and confidence in policing and bring the focus back on the everyday courage and dedication shown by the many.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) carried out an investigation into the behaviour demonstrated in the WhatsApp group, which was discovered as part of an unrelated investigation. Over 1,400 messages sent between June 2020 and February 2021 were analysed by investigators.
More than 100 of these made reference to protected characteristics, including race, gender, religion and disability. Examples of messages include:
- Messages that were derogatory/demeaning/objectifying towards women, including one which used vulgar slang for female genitalia to refer to a group of women at the beach
- Racist messages, including a video of an Arabic male parachuting edited to infer he was responsible for a factory being blown up, and comments comparing the humane killing of an animal by PC Benjamin Kirk with the death of George Floyd, a black man murdered by an American police officer
- Hundreds of pornographic messages
- Messages containing graphic/offensive content, including a number featuring videos or images believed to show the wreckage of a helicopter crash and an industrial incident, where a man was pulled into a machine
The CNC misconduct hearing this week found cases against former PCs Adam Rothery, Andrew Smith, Fraser Dove, Ryan Hancock and Stephen Moss proven for gross misconduct and all would have been dismissed from policing if they had still been serving. Benjamin Kirk’s hearing was held by Avon and Somerset Police back in August.
A seventh officer would also have faced disciplinary hearings but the timing of their resignation from the CNC, before the allegations against them came to light, meant this could not happen.
IOPC Regional Director Catherine Bates said: “Messages like the ones shared in this group have absolutely no place in civilised society. The appalling judgement shown by these officers, in sharing and failing to challenge such messages, is complete betrayal of the trust placed in the police by the public.
“But to stamp out this sort of behaviour fully, colleagues must be able to feel confident in calling it out, knowing they will be supported and action taken. We know this issue is not limited to any single force and leaders across policing must continue to work towards a culture of zero tolerance for these kinds of attitudes. Investigations like this one are an important step in the right direction.”