Two police officers investigated over text message allegations
Two Metropolitan Police officers are being investigated by a watchdog over allegations they sent inappropriate text messages and filmed individuals in custody.
The messages allegedly refer to sexually assaulting victims of crime, while the videos appear to depict individuals in police custody suites or in police vehicles, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.
A detective constable from the Trident and Area Command unit and a police constable from aviation policing have been suspended by the Met after material came to light during a separate criminal investigation by Surrey Police.
We've begun an investigation into allegations that two @metpoliceuk officers sent and received inappropriate text messages and filmed individuals in their custody. https://t.co/0acD1WxZba
-- Independent Office for Police Conduct (@policeconduct) February 2, 2018
Scotland Yard referred the matter to the IOPC, which is investigating.
The watchdog said the messages and the video footage appear to date from around 2011 when the officers worked together in the Hounslow response team.
Investigators will examine data records and the videos before interviewing the two officers.
The probe is also looking at whether any other officers may have been involved in the incidents.
IOPC regional director Jonathan Green said: "These are worrying allegations about the alleged lack of professionalism of two officers.
"Despite the allegations dating back a few years, the IOPC is concerned that otherwise respected officers may be behaving in such an unacceptable manner.
"It is therefore vital that these matters are carefully investigated by us, independently from the police, to determine if the officers have potentially breached any standards of professional conduct."
