A serving Dorset Police officer who was found guilty of gross misconduct after posting inappropriate and offensive messages on a WhatsApp group has been dismissed without notice.
His former colleague, who was a serving police officer, and posted sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying, abusive, offensive and inappropriate messages on the group and bullied colleagues was told he would have been dismissed from the Force had he not already resigned.
PC Mark Jordan-Gill and former officer Paul Perdrisat were found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour following a public misconduct hearing that concluded on Friday 2 June 2023. They returned on Tuesday 13 June 2023 where the panel delivered the sanctions. Both will be placed on the barred list administered by the College of Policing, which means they must not be employed or appointed into policing.
The misconduct hearing heard that allegations were received by the Force’s Professional Standards Department in July and August 2022 about alleged incidents of bullying and discriminatory conduct by the officers, who were serving at the time with the Force Support Group (FSG) in Bournemouth.
The panel ruled that the contents of the WhatsApp group contained sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying, abusive, offensive and inappropriate messages, but found insufficient evidence of the officers making verbal racist or homophobic comments in the presence of other officers. It also did not find evidence that wall art, which was alleged to have been placed in the office but was never recovered, was offensive.
The panel found that PC Jordan-Gill did post inappropriate and offensive messages on the WhatsApp group and did not leave the group even though he was more than likely aware of sexual, pornographic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, bullying, abusive, offensive, and otherwise inappropriate images and messages being posted.
It also found that Mr Perdrisat was a ‘major contributor’ of the offensive messages and images that were found to be racist, misogynistic, homophobic and offensive.
Inspector Nicholas Mantle, who was also found guilty of gross misconduct, will return on a future date for the panel to determine the sanction. Serving officers PC Michael Lowther and PC Matthew Young were found guilty of misconduct. PC Lowther, who challenged the behaviour on the WhatsApp group and left the group, was handed a written warning and PC Young was issued with a final written warning. He admitted failing to challenge the other officers but had extremely limited participation in the group.
Following the hearing Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya, Dorset Police’s lead for professional standards, said: “The public quite rightly expect the highest standards of behaviour from serving police officers and staff as this is a core component of maintaining the trust of our communities. “I am disappointed and appalled, as would any member of the public be, that former officer Paul Perdrisat would have shared images of a racist, misogynistic, homophobic and offensive nature.
“Dorset Police is here to serve and protect our communities and it is the expectation that our people should reflect the very best of society. PC Jordan-Gill and former officer Paul Perdrisat failed to adhere to these high standards and they have let us all down. It is absolutely right they are no longer able to work in policing.
“Any behaviour demonstrating traits of prejudice/negative bias against a person will simply not be tolerated in our organisation and, as this case has demonstrated, we will swiftly and robustly investigate any offences reported to us.
“Dorset Police is an organisation that respects equality, diversity and inclusion and expects this to be a critical value of all its staff. There is no place for any kind of hate behaviour within our Force and any member of staff failing to uphold the highest standards of behaviour, on or off duty, will be subject to investigation and, if appropriate, will no longer be a part of the Force.
“I would like to remind our communities that this behaviour is not indicative of the overwhelming majority of our staff and teams out delivering quality policing every day to protect the public and make Dorset a safe county for everyone.
“We are committed to investigating any unethical or unacceptable behaviour relating to a member of our organisation and I would encourage you to report them to the Force so they can be thoroughly investigated.”
Anyone can report any concerns to Dorset Police by calling 101 or emailing [email protected]. Corruption can also be reported online at www.dorset.police.uk/contact/report-police-corruption/.
Alternatively, members of the public can contact the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) – details of which can be found via their website www.policeconduct.gov.uk or anonymously via the Crimestoppers charity online at Crimestoppers-uk.org or freephone 0800 555 111.
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