UK: Joke Police Put Normal Police Sergeant on Trial for Sharing a George Floyd Meme

Courtroom sketch of a police sergeant on trial for a meme.

Oy, m8.

Ya gotta loisence fer dat meme, do ya?

I ain’t though ya did, I didn’t. I’m haulin’ yer arse in, laddie.

The Guardian:

A British police sergeant sent a “grossly offensive” doctored image of George Floyd’s arrest to fellow officers for a “cheap laugh”, a court has been told.

Geraint Jones, 47, a custody sergeant in Torquay, shared the meme – in which the police officer who arrested Floyd was replaced with a naked black man – with colleagues at Devon and Cornwall police less than a week after Floyd’s death in May last year.

He said the issue of whether the image had a racial angle “never even entered my mind” and it was intended to amuse his colleagues rather than cause offence.

Plymouth magistrates court heard that the officer forwarded the meme to a WhatsApp group of eight other people, including six police officers, after being sent it by a friend.

The meme featured Floyd’s arrest in Minneapolis on 25 May, with an image of a naked American man, Wardy Joubert III, taking the place of the arresting officer.

Two members of the WhatsApp group replied with laughing emojis but one member complained about the image and Jones was referred to the force’s professional standards department.

Jones, who has served with the police for 23 years, was charged with sending a grossly offensive image contrary to the Communications Act 2003, following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. He denies the charge.

When I see a meme that offensive, it just makes me want to scream for my mommy.

Seriously though – police are horrible and they deserve this.

None of these police have done anything but follow orders throughout this entire coronavirus hoax, throughout the riots, all of it.

None of them even post messages on forums, saying “I hate being a part of this, but I’ve got to think of my pension.”

All of them just go right along with it, without questioning anything.

It’s hard to feel bad when a cop arrests another cop for a meme, or because a black guy overdosed on fentanyl while he was being arrested for a felony, or whatever.