'Racist Met police Facebook traveller posts' investigated

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33586626

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Accusations that Met Police officers wrote racist comments about travellers on Facebook are under investigation.

Scotland Yard said its Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) was looking into alleged remarks on the private I've Met The Met page.

A spokesman said concerns were raised in April and June by the travelling community.

If an act of misconduct or criminal offence is found, the Met said this would be "fully investigated".

In a statement, the force said: "The group administrators have set the privacy settings for the group as 'secret' but we understand it to include former and serving MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] officers among its members.

"DPS is assessing the information it has received to determine whether any serving MPS officer or staff may have committed any acts of misconduct and will also look to see if any criminal offences may have been committed.

"Should either be disclosed they will be fully investigated."

The Independent reported some of the comments were made during a discussion about the BBC Trust's decision to clear Top Gear presenters of wrongdoing for their use of the word "pikey", a derogatory term for travellers.

Yvonne MacNamara, chief executive of the Traveller Movement, told the paper the alleged comments were "shocking" and "give us no confidence" in the Met's ability to police those communities and protect its own staff from different backgrounds.