‘Racist’ police ‘pinned Nazi-themed posters on office wall’
Members of a “racist” police squad pinned a poster of skinheads displaying swastikas and giving the Nazi salute on the wall of their station, a police misconduct hearing has been told.
One of the five officers was also heard calling a black motorist a racist term while on duty, it is alleged.
Another member, described as the alpha male of the task force, was accused of bullying a new recruit to the point he made him feel suicidal.
Pc Paul Perdrisat is accused of humiliating the junior colleague by getting him to drink a glass of salty water in front of other officers.
It is alleged that Pc Perdisat’s behaviour amounted to gross misconduct, with others in the team accused of gross misconduct over their failure to report him.
Culture of 'racist' behaviour
The officers are alleged to have nurtured a culture of “racist, misogynistic and homophobic” behaviour while serving in Dorset Police’s Force Support Group in Bournemouth.
The officers had a WhatsApp group called The Real FSG, where offensive messages and images were shared among the male officers, it was said.
The hearing was given evidence from one officer who walked into the office one day to find someone had put the Nazi-themed poster on the wall.
The officer, known only as Witness A, said: “I came in and I remember someone saying ‘you won't believe this’.
“There was wall art. One was an A4 piece of paper with half a dozen men bare-chested with shaven heads.
“It looked like they were in a prison and they had swastikas and they were doing the Nazi salute.
“It was taken down after one or two days. I was incredibly shocked when I saw that picture. I don’t know who put it up. There were so many different wall arts.”
The officer said he was in a patrol van with one of the accused, Pc Mark Jordan-Gill, when he heard him shout out racist abuse at a motorist.
He added: “We were driving in a van towards Tuckton. We were slowing down to let someone out in front of us and Pc Jordan-Gill shouted out 'just hurry up you c–n'."
In response, the witness said another officer, Pc Matthew Young, said: ‘Woah, it’s like being back in the Met.’
The hearing was told that language and behaviour would have “shocked any member of the public”.
'Toxic atmosphere'
Of the five accused officers, Pc Perdrisat, who has since left Dorset Police, was behind most of the offensive comments and bullying, it is alleged.
The others - Insp Nicholas Mantle, Pc Michael Lowther, Pc Jordan-Gill and Pc Young - were also guilty of gross misconduct as they failed to report the behaviour, it was said.
Witness A said that Pc Perdrisat admitted to him that he “picked on the weakest link to get rid of them”.
The complainant told the hearing of how the bullying behaviour led him to contemplate suicide.
He said: “It was a toxic atmosphere and Pc Perdrisat was the alpha male.”
He said of the salty water incident: “When Pc Perdrisat came into the room it all went quiet.
“He plonked a glass down on the table in front of me and said drink it. He said I am your fitness instructor f—--g drink it.
“I said I didn't want any and he kept going. Everyone was laughing and I just drank it. He said it won’t harm you and that he put loads of salt in it.”
Witness A added: “I just didn’t want to come to work. Everything you did was just not good enough.
“I didn't want to get up in the morning. I thought about taking my own life.”
The officers are accused of breaching professional standards and face a week-long tribunal hearing at Dorset Police headquarters at Winfrith, near Dorchester.
All of the officers deny the allegations and gross misconduct.
The hearing continues.
