Student police officer made racist remarks against Muslims

Former PC James Wood, who began his 22-week recruit training at Sulhamstead in October 2023, was found to have made repeated inappropriate remarks during his training period.

A police misconduct hearing held across several days from July 2 concluded that, had Wood not already resigned, he would have been sacked for the gross misconduct.

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The allegations found proven included that the student officer said he did not drink alcohol because when he last did, he had been ‘really racist’, and suggested on another occasion that ‘all terrorists are Muslim’.

He also dismissed the idea of staying in a hotel with his girlfriend because it was ‘full of immigrants’ who were ‘all thieves’.

Thames Valley Police HQ (Image: Contributed)

The panel also heard that he commented the word “good” on a TikTok post about major flooding in Pakistan which had killed around 2,000 people, a comment he later denied making.

A Thames Valley Police misconduct panel concluded that the former officer’s actions amounted to gross misconduct and breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to authority, respect and courtesy, equality and diversity, and discreditable conduct.

A statement from the panel said: “There is no place in the modern police service for prejudice, preconceptions or racist and discriminatory words or conduct.

“Such behaviour undermines the impartiality of policing and must be called out and rooted out of the police service.”

The panel found the allegations proven on the balance of probabilities.

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They described Mr Wood’s conduct as “deeply offensive” and said it “strikes at the heart of everything that the police stands for in terms of fairness, respect and impartiality.”

The panel determined that the only appropriate outcome was a finding that Mr Wood would have been dismissed had he remained a serving officer.

Mr Wood resigned from Thames Valley Police in March 2024, three days after the complaint was made.

Thames Valley Police headquarters in Kidlington (Image: Newsquest)

He had engaged with some of the early investigation steps, verbally admitting to the comments before resigning, but later disputed the allegations in a formal written response.

He denied making the TikTok comment or that the account in question belonged to him, and challenged the accounts of his colleagues.

However, the panel found convincing and corroborated evidence from multiple witnesses, including screen recordings and statements from fellow trainees.

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Mr Wood chose not to participate in the hearing and was found to have “totally disengaged” from the misconduct process.

The hearing proceeded in his absence, as permitted under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.

The panel concluded: “This was deliberate, intentional conduct.

“There is no place for this kind of language and behaviour in the police service.”