Ex-police officer loses discrimination case over ‘snog, marry, avoid' game

The Guardian

4 days ago

A former police officer was asked by a colleague to take part in a game of 'snog, marry, avoid' using images of sex workers and criminal suspects, a tribunal has heard.
Shafarat Mohammed attempted to sue Derbyshire police for racial discrimination and harassment after he was asked to take part in the game by a fellow officer.
The quiz involves naming three people and then asking a person to pick which one you would like to kiss, which one you would marry, and which one you would avoid.
Employment judge Stephen Shore said playing the game in the workplace could amount to sexual harassment and may breach the Equality Act, adding that the officers might have referred to the game – which has several names – by a cruder version.
But ultimately Mohammed lost the case as he did not make a claim of sexual harassment and his other complaints were dismissed.
Shore said: 'The 'game' was crass and inappropriate. It casts no one who participated in it in a good light. It is possible that the conduct that is agreed could constitute harassment of a sexual nature … no such claim was made by [Mohammed].'
Mohammed's colleague PC Kate Northridge admitted to the tribunal that she had 'jokingly' played the game with co-workers and included Mohammed in their discussion.
Mohammed claimed that during the discussion in May or June 2022 he was only shown images of black women and was asked what he liked about one of them. He said he was embarrassed and offended by the questioning and felt it was inappropriate.
Northridge, his colleague at Pear Tree station in Derby, admitted to the hearing in Nottingham that a group of officers played the game using photos of suspects. She said she had been the one to include Mohammed in the game but she had not asked him specific questions about any of the images.
The tribunal heard that Mohammed joined the force in November 2021 and completed his training in March the following year. He resigned less than a year later – in September 2022 – and then made an employment tribunal claim for racial discrimination and harassment.
The tribunal found there was no racial or religious element to it as the sex workers were of varying ethnicities.
Mohammed, a Pakistani-heritage Muslim, lost his case for racial and religious discrimination and harassment.