A former British police officer has been jailed for 20 weeks after sharing George Floyd memes in group chats.
James Watts, 31, was found guilty on Tuesday of 10 counts of “sending a grossly offensive or menacing message by a public communication network,” after sharing various George Floyd memes to a WhatsApp and Messenger group chats featuring former group colleagues at a Warwickshire prison in May and June of 2020.
The court heard that the memes posted by Watts, who was serving with West Mercia Police at the time, featured George Floyd, who died in May 2020 during an arrest in Minneapolis, being compared to George of the Jungle and the game Guess Who. Other memes included a dog wearing a KKK outfit, and another showed a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it.
One former user of the group chat posted screenshots of the memes on Twitter, including one that made a reference to a line in ‘Jaws’. “Former work colleague now serving police officer sent these in group chat,” they posted, along with making a complaint to the police. “What hope is there in police in the UK sharing these.”
When sentencing Watts, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram described the posts as “the most serious offences,” and while noting that Watts has “co-operated with the authorities” at every stage, the fact that he continued to post the George Floyd memes over a period of a month proved that it was not simply down to “stupidity or foolishness.”
NEW: An ex-police constable, James Watts, who posted racist WhatsApp memes mocking the death of George Floyd has been jailed for 20 weeks. He shared the grossly offensive material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison. https://t.co/0OTetWM2QA pic.twitter.com/naWyrIpOe3
— Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) June 14, 2022
“You were previously a prison officer. I have no doubt you would have received training in relation to diversity and inclusion in that role,” Ikram argued. “At the time of these offences, you were a police officer – a person to whom the public looks up to to uphold the law – but you did the opposite. You undermined the confidence the public has in the police.”
He claimed Watts’ actions brought “the criminal justice system as a whole into disrepute,” and he did the “complete opposite” of protecting the public and enforcing the law, as was his duty.
“The hostility that you demonstrated on the basis of race makes this offending so serious that I cannot deal with it by a community penalty or a fine,” Ikram continued. “A message must go out and that message can only go out through an immediate sentence of imprisonment.”
Derrick Campbell, the regional director for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said that the memes were “bound to have caused significant reputational damage to policing,” adding that they would “disturb many people both within and outside the police service.”
“Today’s outcome must act as a stark reminder that this behaviour, particularly from a police officer, is unacceptable,” Campbell said. “It is important officers understand it is irrelevant whether such activity takes place on or off duty, or in a private or public social media network – the conduct is likely to face serious disciplinary or criminal consequences.”
Joann Jinks, 41, a fellow West Merica Police Constable, has been charged with 3 counts of the same offence, and is due to stand trial soon.
