Northamptonshire police officer given written warning for 'stupid remarks' to colleague about ethnicity

PC Thomas Barnard attended a two-day misconduct hearing at Northamptonshire Police HQ on December 10 and 11.

It is alleged that the officer, who has worked at the police force since 2014 with an “unblemished career”, made “several references” to a colleague’s Muslim religion and ethnicity, “which she had considered to be racist”.

The colleague – referred to as Person A - gave evidence at the hearing and she said that she had been “really upset” by the comments and that one had made her cry. She also said she was “fuming” about a comment about Hamas.

As detailed in the report from the hearing, PC Barnard and Person A described each other as friends, regularly spent time together at work and would often both be involved in “office banter”.

However, the report said: “On an unknown date, when talking about a cake shop that Person A liked, you commented words to the effect of ‘why, is that because they sell Muslim cakes’. This was a pointed and unnecessary reference to Person A’s ethnicity.”

The report also adds: “Person A confirmed that she had purchased dates from a charity organisation, and had explained that all the money raised goes to Palestine you commented words to the effect of ‘Hamas you mean’.”

There were a total of six allegations, including a number of other comments “unnecessarily” making reference to Person A’s ethnicity.

PC Barnard’s counsel said at the hearing that “a model police officer” had found himself in this position because he had made some “stupid remarks” and that “as soon as he was made aware of the upset caused... he telephoned her and apologised unreservedly”.

The report adds: “The panel considered that it was understandable that the colleague had thought that the comments had been racist, however, in line with the legal advice and the well-established principles in terms of racist language, it was satisfied that none of the factual allegations found proven included racist language.”

The panel found that PC Barnard had failed to treat his colleague with respect and courtesy and unfairly discriminated against her. This amounted to gross misconduct and the panel concluded the most suitable outcome was a written warning.

Read the full report here.