Britain’s most senior black police officer, who was in charge of stamping out racism in the ranks across all English and Welsh forces, has left his job after facing bullying and discrimination allegations.
Deputy Chief Constable Tyron Joyce, who headed the Police Race Action Plan – which aims to tackle discrimination within forces and by officers towards the public – has retired following a complaint.
The allegations came from his second in command, The Telegraph reported, a senior female civil servant who has been named as Liz Unwin. She was a previous lead of the action programme.
Sources close to Mrs Unwin told the newspaper that she had accused Mr Joyce of professionally undermining her in front of their colleagues, leading to a decline in her mental health.
Mrs Unwin was reportedly of equal rank to Mr Joyce and had decades of experience in police force teams and at the Foreign Office, but left her post in January and lodged a formal complaint.
Prior to his appointment as the head of the race action plan, Mr Joyce was Assistant Chief Constable at West Yorkshire Police.
There he ran the National Police Air Service, where in 2019 an internal inquiry reportedly took place after multiple members of staff raised concerns about discrimination and bullying.
The number of complainants who alleged Mr Joyce bullied them could exceed six, according to The Telegraph.
Allegations were said to include intimidation, making offensive and lewd comments in the workplace, and discriminatory comments about a disabled employee.
A senior manager at the air service who complained told reporters that issues around diversity and Mr Joyce’s role made it more “complex” for accusations against him to be adequately dealt with.
David Howell, a senior manager, said: “The organisational and personal fall out was too great.”
The National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) confirmed that Mr Joyce was no longer in his role and his social media accounts were updated, describing him as the “former” temporary Dep Chief Constable at the race action plan.
Allegations made by the civil servant who worked with Mr Joyce on the race plan were sent to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog.
The IOPC said it is unable to comment on the most recent allegation, but a spokesperson said of the allegations about Mr Joyce’s conduct at West Yorkshire Police: “We received a mandatory conduct referral from West Yorkshire Police in April relating to allegations of bullying and discrimination by a senior officer.
“After careful consideration of the available information, we determined the matter should be subject to a local investigation.
“We have also advised the force that any additional conduct matters identified during the investigation should be referred to the IOPC for further consideration.”
(Source: Dailymail)
