Police trainee would have been sacked over remarks

A former trainee police constable found to have made a series of inappropriate comments days after joining a force would have been sacked had he not quit.

Alex Whitchurch started training at Thames Valley Police's (TVP) Sulhamstead centre in Berkshire in July 2025 but five colleagues complained about his conduct regarding eight incidents, a misconduct hearing heard.

Those comments included remarks about race, disability, gender and religion and he resigned with immediate effect from the force in September 2025.

Chief Constable Jason Hogg found Whitchurch had committed gross misconduct and said he had shown himself to be "wholly unsuited" to policing.

Whitchurch denied saying some of the remarks in the way that people had reported them, said another had been a "simple comment without malice" and said he meant others as jokes.

Hogg found Whitchurch "simply doesn't have the attitude, behaviour or mindset" for policing.

He asked the officers who complained about Whitchurch's behaviour be thanked and said TVP should reflect on how he passed initial probation.

Whitchurch's name will be added to the College of Policing's banned list so he can never work as a police officer again.

He did not attend the accelerated misconduct hearing, which was held online, on Wednesday.