Ex-West Midlands Police Federation chairman faces misconduct probe over social media posts

Sergeant Richard Cooke was suspended as branch chair in December 2024 after he suggested claims in a Channel 4 News report that the force failed to take action against racism in its ranks were “nonsense”.

The BBC reported that the current investigation is linked to complaints made by Charlotte Smith, from Warwickshire, who previously reported a Warwickshire Police officer for harassment.

Sgt Cooke reposted a news article about Ms Smith’s allegations and commented “many officers’ lives are also totally destroyed by false and malicious allegations”, the BBC reported.

In a statement on Friday, West Midlands Police said: “A serving West Midlands Police sergeant is under gross misconduct investigation following complaints from a number of members of the public relating to a number of social media posts.”

The force said the officer has not been suspended and the investigation is being independently managed by Lincolnshire Police.

A disciplinary panel previously found the former detective sergeant, the subject of the harassment claims by Ms Smith, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct if he had not already resigned.

In January, the High Court quashed the decision to remove Sgt Cooke from his Police Federation post over his comments on racism within West Midlands Police, which the federation said at the time was a “flawed” judgment.

Ms Justice Obi found the decision to suspend him was partly wrong in that it did not properly assess his right to free expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

On social media, Mr Cooke had said that “safe spaces” where perceptions could be discussed was a “fishing trip to collect hearsay and innuendo to smear colleagues”, the High Court heard.

One complaint about this came from Khizra Bano, a former police officer who had made claims on which the Channel 4 report was based, saying Mr Cooke’s comments were dismissive of the concerns.