In the case of Mr A J Akajioyi v Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis PC Ashley Akajioyi, formerly attached to the Met’s Violent Crime Task Force, won a claim of race-related harassment against the force after a tribunal found the characterisation of him as ‘menacing’ was derived from “the racial stereotype of black men behaving aggressively.”
The Central London employment tribunal heard that the PC, who is of Nigerian heritage, was hauled into a “dressing down” meeting with a police sergeant over alleged poor performance in September 2020.
The tribunal said that during an acrimonious email exchange after the meeting, the PC was accused of looking at his superior “menacingly”, when he had in fact been passive while being berated.
It said the sergeant in question “allowed himself to be influenced, most likely unconsciously” by the PC’s race in making the allegation.
Employment Judge Emma Burns added that the panel was surprised that the Met’s witnesses professed ignorance about offensive racial stereotypes.
“A lack of awareness of such stereotypes might lead to individuals failing to check if they are applying them but does not necessarily mean that they have applied them,” she said.
The judgement also upheld a disability discrimination finding over how Scotland Yard handled a misconduct process against PC Akajioyi.
The tribunal heard that the PC took a 999 call from a young woman who was hiding behind some bins after being chased by two armed men in May 2020, but that he did not escalate the call so officers could be sent to assist.
Ten minutes later, one of the men had attacked the woman’s father with a hammer. The PC was asked to undertake training over the incident.
Employment judges criticised the Met for “appalling” delays in the misconduct process but said it was not related to race.
A Met spokesperson said: “We are sorry the officer experienced this unacceptable behaviour. There is no place in the Met for discrimination.
“We are carefully considering the judgment and we will implement any learning or changes to our processes that could prevent this from happening again.”
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