A former Norfolk police constable who resigned due to his involvement in a WhatsApp group had posted more than 54 offensive messages including an antisemitic joke about Auschwitz.

PC Daniel Comfort was among the six officers from three forces who shared “grossly offensive” messages to lose their jobs following a disciplinary hearing.

The 47-year-old officer, who had joined Norfolk Constabulary as a response officer last March, sent 1,184 messages, making him the most active participant in the group, with 54 deemed to be inappropriate.

A number of the messages he posted were homophobic, racist, sexist, discriminatory and he was “significantly involved in the deeply offensive messages” about people queuing up for ‘dodgy’ showers at Auschwitz, the misconduct panel said.  

He also failed to challenge or report more than 400 messages posted by other members of the group.

The panel said that while he did arguably challenge one comment, he did not report it or leave the group and did not challenge numerous others.

Following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) the Norfolk officer, who resigned on November 27, was told they would have been dismissed if he had not alreday quit.

The WhatsApp group had been variously named ‘Bottles and Stoppers’, 'Boris's Benders’, ‘Atkin’s Puppets’ and ‘...Hate Group’ - with the first part being the name of a mixed-race officer.

The IOPC said messages posted by the officers had included derogatory remarks aimed at domestic abuse victims, people with disabilities and women including comments about starving African children eating flies and ‘grooming’ of young foreign girls.

Comments posted by Comfort included ‘filthy Feltham’, a derogatory reference to the London area’s community diversity. 

Comfort told the disciplinary panel he should have left the group and had “not meant to cause offence”.

“He confirmed that the initial rationale behind the group was to share information about their experiences, how to progress their careers and social matters,” said the panel’s report.

“He agreed that a number of messages fell below the standard of professional behaviour. He pointed out he had challenged the behaviour on one occasion. 

“He accepted that some of the comments should have been reported. He was embarrassed that he failed to do so and apologised.”

Norfolk chief Constable Paul Sanford said: “The language and opinions demonstrated as part of the evidence at this joint misconduct hearing fell well below what anyone, let alone a police force, would find acceptable. 

“While former PC Comfort may have admitted that his behaviour was wrong, it should never have happened in the first place, and any of the officers involved should have called a stop to it.”

He added: “It’s important, however, that we put this into context – we are aware that we are speaking about the minority of officers and staff. 

“We know the majority take their role and their duties seriously and would not dream of behaving with their colleagues, or the public we serve, in such a way.”

 

IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “We will continue to ensure, along with police forces, that this type of behaviour is rooted out and those responsible are held to account for their actions.”