WIREDGOV

A Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed by a disciplinary panel over allegations of using abusive and discriminatory language and planting evidence, following an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation.

A number of allegations against Detective Constable Mark Eve, who was based at Romford Police Station, were found proven at a level of gross misconduct and on 11 October he was dismissed without notice by the independent panel. He will now be placed on the College of Policing’s barred list preventing him from working within the Police Service. Our investigation began after concerns were raised about DC Eve’s conduct by fellow officers, which led to a referral to us from the Metropolitan Police Service.

DC Eve was alleged to have habitually used words that were racially offensive and discriminatory in direct conversation with colleagues and on WhatsApp, including at times when he had been temporarily promoted to a supervisory role.  He was found to have attempted to move evidence to strengthen a case against burglary suspects during an investigation in 2015. He also obtained a photograph of a personal nature from a female colleague’s mobile phone without consent and showed it to another officer. Gross misconduct was found proven for these matters.

Evidence suggested that DC Eve possessed offensive weapons and had on occasion carried a knuckleduster while on duty. Other evidence indicated that the officer had interviewed a man who was on bail without authority, and drunk alcohol while on duty.  Misconduct was found proven for these allegations.

Regional Director, Sal Naseem yesterday said:

“Our investigation found DC Eve regularly used language that was abusive and discriminatory towards colleagues and members of the public in conversation with fellow officers. He sought to falsify evidence in one case, and evidence suggested he took an unauthorised offensive weapon with him on occasion when carrying out his duties.

“During a time when acting as a sergeant his conduct was bullying and offensive towards constables under his supervision. This sort of behaviour serves only to undermine public confidence in policing and the hard work and endeavour of serving officers. Indeed, it was serving officers who came forward to report DC Eve’s unacceptable behaviour. This is to be commended as this led to our investigation and ultimately his dismissal by the panel.”

Our investigation into the range of allegations concluded in November 2017 and we sent our report to the MPS who agreed the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct. In the course of the investigation we had obtained over 100 statements from police officers and members of the public, and examined over 350 documents and 100 exhibits. The MPS arranged a week-long misconduct hearing which ended on Friday.