Wiltshire police officer on warning for racist messages

The one-day misconduct hearing was held at Wiltshire Police headquarters

A police officer has been given a final written warning for sending racist text messages to a work group chat.

Wiltshire Police said firearms officer, PC Mark Giles, had breached standards of professional behaviour for directing inappropriate messages towards another officer in April 2023.

PC Giles was immediately suspended from his role pending investigation.

Deputy chief constable Craig Dibdin said such "abhorrent" behaviour "will not be tolerated".

The one-day hearing was held at Wiltshire Police headquarters last Monday and was led by an independent legally qualified chair.

The chair concluded that the actions of PC Giles breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour for police officers.

The hearing was told that in April 2023, PC Giles sent inappropriate, racist messages to a Whatsapp group used by the team he worked in.

The messages were directed towards another officer, which could cause offence given his ethnicity.

'Inappropriate behaviour'

"PC Giles' actions fell well below the high standards of professionalism that we, and the public, expect from all police officers, staff and volunteers," said Mr Dibdin.

"We are fully committed to rooting out and challenging inappropriate behaviour and we will take all necessary steps to actively and appropriately deal with those whose behaviour falls below the standards we expect.

"I am committed to working with those within our organisation of diverse backgrounds as part of our aspiration to be a truly anti-racist service.

"Whilst we have already made steps towards this, behaviour of this nature shows just how far we have to go."

He added that the force will now work with PC Giles to ensure he is aware of the offence his actions have caused.

"We must call out racist or discriminatory practices to create a more inclusive culture and we must support victims of unacceptable and abhorrent behaviour for the benefit of our colleagues, and ultimately for our communities," Mr Dibdin added.