Sheffield cop accused of making 'curry' quip denies using ethnic slur in joke with British Indian officer

A police disciplinary hearing has got underway today – September 15 – over a series of alleged remarks made by Sheffield PC David Warwick.

The panel this morning heard how one of the officer’s colleagues and good friends, Temporary Sergeant Baldeesh Boora-Brown, was “shocked” and “insulted” following an exchange on July 20 at Shepcote Lane custody suite last year.

It is alleged that Sgt Boora-Brown was congratulating PC Warwick on being picked for a promotion, and the two were talking about how he was now facing a vetting process to get the job.

Sgt Boora-Brown reportedly joked: “I’ll have to make a complaint against you.”

“What would you say,” PC Warwick allegedly replied, “That I called you a P***?”

“I was shocked,” Sgt Boora-Brown told the gross misconduct hearing today.

“Shocked that he would use that word.

“[That word] is an insult to me. It’s always been used as an insult to me.”

Sgt Boora-Brown reportedly called her husband.

PC Warwick has rejected the allegation of gross misconduct, stating he “entirely denies” making the comment.

Prosecutor for the appropriate authority, Olivia Checa-Dover, told the panel today: “PC Warwick says this just didn’t happen. A lie. It didn’t happen. Not that it was a terribly ill-judged quip or ‘I’m sorry’. A lie, and it didn’t happen.

“It is the appropriate authority’s position that is is more likely than not that Sgt Boora-Brown is telling the truth.”

Further, it is alleged that later on the very same day, PC Warwick was in conversation with an officer about an Asian man who was 105-years-old.

PC Warwick remarked: “I’ll have to start eating curry.”

The Sheffield officer accepts making the remark, but does not accept that it breaches police standards.

Ms Checa-Dover said: “We say this is indicative of the same problem. You think of an Asian man and think ‘what’s my quip, well he must eat curry, there might be a gag in that’.

“We say that is misconduct, if viewed in isolation.”

The panel further heard how in the weeks after the incident had been escalated, PC Warwick reportedly told a colleague: “There’s an irony that I’m being held for saying P*** and now I’m being looked after by [another officer of British South Asian heritage].”

PC Warwick is now facing a charge of gross misconduct for his alleged remark to Sgt Boora-Brown and behaviour amounting to misconduct for the curry statement.

The panel heard how Sgt Boora-Brown and PC Warwick were good friends for years prior to the conversation on July 20, and that he had even gone to her wedding.

If PC Warwick is found to have breached professional standards and the gross misconduct charge is proved, he could face sanctions ranging from instant dismissal to a final written warning.

The hearing is listed to take place over the next two days and is set to conclude on September 17.

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