Investigators said colleagues were often too afraid to speak out because they feared being ostracised by officers who used banter as a defence for bullying and harassment. Metropolitan Police officers used “banter” as a defence for messages deemed “highly sexualised, discriminatory or referred to violence”, the police watchdog said. Homophobic comments were also used and there were repeated references to rape inclusing messages sent within a police officer Whatsapp group that said ‘I would happily rape you’ and ‘if I was single I would happily chloroform you.’ Officers claimed sexist and discriminatory messages was ‘banter’ The IOPC’s report detailed Whatsapp messages about police officers attending a festival “dressed as known sex offenders and a molested child”. There were also claims concerning discriminatory actions and behaviours identified from WhatsApp messages.
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