British police officer dismissed for making homophobic and racist posts on far-right Facebook group
A Metropolitan Police officers alleged to have made ‘homophobic’ comments on a far-right social media group. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
A British police officer at London’s law enforcement agency, the Metropolitan Police, was dismissed “without notice” after he made a slew of racist and homophobic comments as well as posts in a far-right Facebook group.
Police constable Gus Mirams, part of the Met’s central west unit stretching the boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea, made barbed comments in front of two members of the public and a security guard in 2019, a force misconduct hearing heard.
Moreover, the hearing heard, he was alleged to have engaged with a social media group linked to Britain First, a fringe group which believes that white Christian civilization is under threat from Islam.
The group emerged in 2011 as an offshoot of the far-right British National Party, fanning anti-immigrant sentiment and xenophobia so extreme that many fellow far-right organisations have even shunned it.
As a result, the BBC reported, the panel found the actions of Mirams amounted to gross misconduct and was dismissed without notice.
Police officer made ‘homophobic’ comments online about cops attending Pride parades.
The three-dayslong hearing, the Met said, took place behind-closed-doors “due to the current COVID-19 pandemic”.
Mirams posted various “offensive comments” on social media in response to news stories involving cops attending Pride events in the UK.
The panel also heard that the 15 July 2019 incident occurred while Mirams was on restricted duties. During the time, he was sat in a public gallery at an unrelated misconduct hearing.
He was alleged to have made “homophobic and racially offensive comments” overheard by gallery-goers and security.
Due to this, the panel ruled that Miriams’ behaviour violated equality and diversity standards. In both circumstances, his language “could reasonably be perceived to be abusive, oppressive, victimising or offensive and did not treat certain communities with fairness, respect and impartiality”, the panel said.
The panel concluded that Miriams’ conduct “is alleged to amount to gross misconduct as is so serious as to justify dismissal”.
