I'm taking a small amount of comfort here from the fact that someone did report this, which if they are known to those involved, cannot have been easy for them.
From reports it wasn't a police officer that reported it, but a civilian that was "in on" the whatsapp group:
The IOPC said the pictures were allegedly "shared with a small number of others", adding the Met was "handling matters involving those members of the public who may have received those images".
So I think the repeated assertion of the statistics of "decent officers" has taken another hit. We also need to have a think as to whether it is appropriate that serving police officers should be involved in "private" Whatsapp groups of any stripe. Bearing in mind Whatsapp is a privately provided communication platform that the participants have no control over and once data disappears into the Whatsapp pipe it is effectively gone forever. Why ? Because the end to end encryption in the platform makes it impossible to know what people have sent and seen.
The stereotyping of police on this thread is awful
Nowhere near as bad as the stereotyping some groups face at the hands of the police everyday though. And with much less consequence.
Anyone remember that video clip of a policeman telling a suspect he'd just make shit up ?
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/lancashire-police-officer-who-threatened-18121548
If the police don't like being criticised for being institutionally racist, closing ranks, and acting like uniformed bully boys, there is a startlingly easy solution. As a public we have another 50 years. We're not going anywhere.