Two London police officers are hitting the unemployment line this week after racist remarks surfaced between them against Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. In the group chat, the behavior displayed by the cops was deemed “abhorrent and discriminatory,” according to British media, and included a racist slur.
Per the tribunal ruling on Friday, the actions of Police Constables Sukhdev Jeer and PC Paul Hefford, who worked in east London, amounted to “gross misconduct,” and for this reason, the officers were immediately expelled. We’re not talking just one conversation, either. According the the Huff Post, the Whatsapp messages were exchanged “for an extended period of time” throughout 2018. The messages were also described as “discriminatory and serious in nature,” by the tribune.
One comment even went as far as to compare the Duchess to a racist caricature doll the British used to refer to as the “Golliwog.” A figure with dark skin, wide eyes, and red clownish lips, similar to the Mammy dolls that became popular in the Jim Crow era here in America.
Maurice Cohen, chair of the tribunal, called the messages, “overtly ... ableist and sexist.”
“The postings ... caused serious reputational damage to the Metropolitan police as a whole … They were mocking and discriminatory to many [of the same] sections of society the Metropolitan police force was meant to be policing,” Cohen said at an earlier hearing.
“Dismissal is the only appropriate action,” he concluded on Friday.
According to BBC News, the messages were exchanged shortly before Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry.
This isn’t the only scandal the UK is having to manage as of late. After calls for his resignation following decades of legal and moral misconduct, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is stepping down. The transition of power may not be as smooth however, as Johnson has refused to leave his post until his successor is named.