Five Metropolitan police officers have been fired for posting photos on the internet that they had secretly taken of members of the public.
A misconduct hearing was told that the five male officers had covertly photographed members of the public and colleagues while on duty before exchanging them on social media accompanied with “disrespectful and in one case predatory” comments.
The derogatory comments are understood to be of a sexual nature, but not racial or religious.
The officers, who were attached to Camden borough while the incidents took place, were dismissed for gross misconduct after a disciplinary hearing, Scotland Yard said.
One other officer has been given a final written warning and another, who was arrested last year after similar allegations were made against him, has resigned. No charges were brought against him, but a misconduct investigation was pursued before he resigned.
The men had breached the standards of respect and courtesy the Met expects, the hearing heard.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor, of the force’s directorate of professionalism, said: “This was disgraceful behaviour from a small group of officers and it is only right and just that they have been dismissed from the Met.
“We expect the very highest standards of behaviour from our officers and when they fall short of those standards they can expect to be held to account.”
