Police officer 'who racially abused group of men' given written warning

A police officer has been given a written warning after allegedly racially abusing a group of men in north London.

PC Sam Bolger is said to have made the comments to four men in Islington in the early hours of May 5, 2019.

He is accused of "repeatedly using racist language towards the four men” during the incident at around 1.20am and 1.48am on Essex Road.

A second officer, PC Laura Bottomley, alleged to have made abusive comments at the group, also received a written warning.

The incident occurred when the two officers, from North West Command Unit, were off duty.

PC Bolger "repeated the slur when challenged by a fifth man which led to a physical altercation with the man”, a police statement said.

The officers were alleged to have behaved provocatively and rather than taking opportunities to walk away from an escalating situation, at least on one occasion aggressively approached the group as they were making efforts to walk away.

At a misconduct hearing on Monday, both PC Bolger and PC Bottomley answered allegations their conduct amounted to a breach of the standard of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct, authority, respect and courtesy.

PC Bolger faced another allegation his conduct amounted to a breach of the standard of professional behaviour regarding equality and diversity.

The panel found allegations against PC Bolger were proven to have breached the standards of professional behaviour at a level of gross misconduct.

They found allegations against PC Bottomley were proven to have breached the standards of professional behaviour at a level of misconduct only.

Commander Dr Alison Heydari from Met Front Line Policing, said: “The racist language used by PC Sam Bolger has no place in society let alone in the Metropolitan Police Service.

“The slurs he used were thoroughly unacceptable, utterly abhorrent and fell well below the standards expected by the Met and the public we serve.

“The MPS expects the very highest standard of professionalism from our staff regardless of whether they are on duty or not. PC Laura Bottomley and PC Sam Bolger behaved in an aggressive and provocative manner throughout this interaction with the five men in question.

“They were the aggressors in this matter and rather than walk away they continued to behave in an unacceptable manner.”