1,000 cops probed over offensive online content after Couzens shared sick posts with colleagues before murder

a number of officers and staff have been investigated over misogynistic, sexist, racist and homophobic communications. 

Other employees have been accused of sending explicit photos to colleagues and even sexual content to underage and vulnerable victims. 

However the majority, including several senior members of staff, escaped with just disciplinary action. 

Five other police officers have also been accused of sharing "shared misogynistic and racist messages" with Couzens months before he killed Sarah. 

The officers, including three from the Metropolitan Police, are now under criminal investigation. 

At least 999 police officers and other staff have been reported by members of the public or their own colleagues for their behaviour on social media since 2015. 

There are also at least 26 colleagues of evil cop Wayne Couzens have committed sex crimes in the last five years, it is reported.

Two of the sick Met Police officers were jailed for their crimes in April - a month after Couzens, 48, abducted, raped and killed Sarah,33. 

An officer working in the same same unit as Couzens has been charged with rape - seven months after Sarah Everard’s murder. 

PC David Carrick, 46, was based within the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and has been charged with rape today. 

'CULTURE OF MISUSING'

Nazir Afzal, ex-chief crown prosecutor for the North West, said: “This is misbehaviour on an industrial scale.

“It suggests a culture of misusing social media and WhatsApp in order to disseminate material that is offensive, gratuitous and damaging to public confidence.

“If you’re talking about 1 per cent of our country’s police having been investigated, you just have to wonder how many have not been caught out yet.”

In July, it emerged that eight Met officers were being investigated for allegedly mocking celebrity Katie Price’s son Harvey in a Whatsapp group.

At the time she said: “The fact that some of those in the police force, the very people employed to protect us against trolls, are themselves guilty of social media abuse is deeply worrying.

“They need to be setting a better example if we are trying to encourage the public to be more kind and to learn that what they say on these platforms can not only be damaging but sometimes against the law.”

It is concerning that a very small number of staff think this is acceptable.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford

Almost three quarters of the allegations were deemed serious enough to result in disciplinary action but only 53 staff left the force as a result. 

Of those who kept their jobs was a PC who took a photo of a dead victim and shared it on WhatsApp and another who set the neo-Nazi ‘SS’ symbol as their profile picture.

Another member of staff from West Yorkshire Police posted a sexually explicit video of themself on Twitter, but this was dealt with by "management action”. 

Of all the forces the Met recorded the highest number of allegations at 277, but only provided data for the last year. 

Avon and Somerset Police saw a superintendent and a detective chief inspector among those investigated for misusing social media. 

They recorded 126 allegations, including a “vulnerable female” complaining that an officer had tried to contact her “extensively” online and via mobile after meeting her at an incident. 

SOCIAL MEDIA MISUSE

Cumbria Police saw staff investigated for sending sexual messages to underage girls and sending “unsolicited follow requests” on Instagram. 

A special constable with Surrey’s Police resigned after posting “inappropriate and racist posts” on their social media and a staff member was disciplined for “racially offensive” Facebook posts.

A PC was also dismissed after initiating an “inappropriate relationship” with a 16-year-old girl over Facebook. 

Surrey Police said its staff rarely fell short of high standards and the majority of breaches involved personal accounts rather than official channels.

Avon and Somerset said it encouraged the “appropriate use” of social media and warned staff that any breaches could result in disciplinary action.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford, standards spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said it was working to tackle social media misuse.

He added: “We are aware of rare cases where inappropriate material has been posted or shared. It is concerning that a very small number of staff think this is acceptable.”