“Deeply troubling” evidence of bullying, harassment, and discrimination in England’s fire service ranks could be “the tip of the iceberg,” an independent inspector has said.
According to a report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), staff recalled racist, sexist, and homophobic comments and behaviours which had gone unchallenged or been dismissed as “banter.”
They included claims that a senior officer referred to a black colleague using a derogatory racial term, homophobic abuse scrawled on a firefighter’s locker, and two firemen joking about assaulting a female colleague.
There was also a “perception among staff” that women were appointed due to their gender, rather than on merit….