LANCASHIRE POLICE OFFICER DISMISSED FOR RACIST AND SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
A police officer who sent racist, abusive and sexual messages to female colleagues has been dismissed for gross misconduct.PC Christopher Tierney, 35, utilized Lancashire Police's internal directory to obtain contact details for nine officers and then sent them messages via WhatsApp and Facebook.
He was promptly dismissed without notice by a misconduct hearing panel in Ormskirk.
The panel described his behavior as an abuse of authority over junior colleagues and labeled it as "deplorable and disgraceful." During the hearing, it was revealed that PC Tierney, who was most recently a traffic officer, had been sending racist, abusive, and inappropriate messages to one female officer, with whom he maintained a "toxic" relationship.
The report from the Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted that his messages included racial and religious stereotypes, conveyed through derogatory emojis and phrases.
He also behaved inappropriately towards eight other female officers, involving sexual, emotional behavior, or messages.
It was noted that PC Tierney often contacted women on Facebook or WhatsApp, after sourcing their contact details from the force's internal directory, and had described one officer as "hot" and another as the "hottest girl on the team." Furthermore, he kissed some of these women and sought or attempted to establish romantic relationships with others.
PC Tierney, who joined the police in 2007, expressed remorse for his actions, stating: "When I read them now, it feels like these were written by someone else," and questioned his motives, saying: "I cannot understand why I did that." He acknowledged that Lancashire Police’s reputation must be upheld to maintain public confidence.
The police’s lawyer, Matthew Holdcroft, described PC Tierney’s behavior as "predatory" and emphasized that the public would be "appalled if this officer was ever allowed to go on duty again." The panel chairman, Karimulla Akbar Khan, stated that PC Tierney's conduct was "a significant deviation from police standards" and involved discriminatory and predatory behavior.
He concluded that the officer's conduct was "deplorable and disgraceful" and declared that "there can be no place in the police for people like him."
