The officer 'secretly took photos of women's crotches and bums for the group chat'.
A police officer has been accused of secretly photographing his female colleagues’ body parts for a sexist WhatsApp group chat.
The unnamed Merseyside Police officer’s alleged messages emerged when he was investigated for breaking Covid rules last year.
The force’s professional standards unit looked at the officer’s phone and reportedly found the ‘disgusting’ group.
It turns out the police officer had allegedly been taking photos of his female colleagues’ crotches and bums and then asking male colleagues if they would ever be sexually interested in them.
More than 100 pictures were posted on the group and 12 women from the Merseyside force have been identified in the photos, an anonymous source said.
Despite the allegations coming out more than 12 months ago, the married dad is still reportedly serving as an officer, albeit with restricted duties.
Other officers are said to be very ‘concerned’ about how long the investigation is taking.
Detective Mark Baker said: ‘We demand the highest possible standards from our officers and staff and the Professional Standards Team is committed to ensuring that those who fall below those standards are held to account.
‘All of our officers should recognise the unique position we hold in maintaining law and order, and that to keep the trust and confidence of our communities we must uphold the highest standards of behaviour ourselves at all times.
‘The public rightly have high expectations of our officers and Merseyside Police is committed to ensuring we meet those expectations and we will investigate those and take appropriate action, whether that be through internal misconduct processes or the criminal justice system.
‘The overwhelming majority of our staff understand the need for integrity and high standards and provide the public with an exception service day in and day out and we have processes in place so that officers and staff are able to confidentially report to us if a colleague does not adhere to the standards expected.’
It comes as the police in the UK are still facing long-lasting backlash for what many have called a ‘cultural problem’ in its forces.
Most recently, Met Police counter-terrorism officer Francois Olwage, 52, was accused of grooming what he believed was a 13-year-old girl and then going to meet her with condoms, lubricant and erectile dysfunction pills.
The behaviour of police officers has been in the public eye since former Met officer Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard last year.
He is currently serving a whole-life sentence for the crime while facing indecent exposure charges for allegedly flashing himself to members the public in the weeks before.
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