Police who posed with Tallia Storm win £50,000 compensation in sex discrimination case

Police Scotland has been ordered to pay two officers £50,000 in compensation after they were stripped of their firearms authorisation for taking a picture with a female celebrity.

An employment judge ruled that PC Steven Jones and PC Greg Tunnock were discriminated against because of their sex when they were removed from the firearms unit and transferred from the specialist service for posing with Tallia Storm.

It was concluded that female officers would not have been treated in the same way.

The officers, based at Fettes in Edinburgh, were on patrol near the Scottish Parliament building on March 1 last year when they came across the radio presenter, with a crowd, on her way to an event.

The tribunal heard that the pair had intended to send the photograph to Police Scotland’s communications department to use as an example of them engaging positively with the public following a call on the force’s intranet for officers and staff to send any policing pictures they had captured to be featured on social media channels.

A video of the interaction was posted to Ms Storm’s TikTok account, attracting 500 comments.

Both officers were then spoken to by management, with concerns raised that the incident could be viewed as “misogyny”.

Following backlash, Ms Storm posted a further comment in relation to the video, adding: “There was a sea of young girls lining the streets to see Conan [Grey], so of course there would be police there.

“They stopped for less than a minute saying hello, couldn’t have been kinder. It took less time to take a pic than it would have taken for them to get a coffee.

“They were lovely. It was so refreshing to see kindness and support in our little community. Be kind, we are all human on the job at the end of the day.”

Officers stop Tallia Storm for a picture in Edinburgh (TikTok/TalliaStorm) TikTok/TalliaStorm

Assistant chief constable Gary Ritchie permanently withdrew the men from armed policing, stating that there was “no place in armed policing for ‘this’ type of behaviour”, adding that it could have been perceived as sexist as it involved a female celebrity.

A grievance was submitted by the officers on April 12 in relation to the decision to permanently withdraw their authorisation, but it was not upheld.

At the tribunal, Judge Jones described the evidence given by Ritchie as “not credible or reliable”, adding that he had “sought to develop reasons for the action taken by him in light of the complaints put forward”.

Both men, who had won awards and commendations during their service, suffered a significant impact on their mental health following the incident and had to undergo counselling.

PC Tunnock’s wife was concerned that he might try to take his own life, while PC Jones is considering whether he can continue a career in policing.

The tribunal ruled that the assistant chief constable (ACC) “wished to make an example of the officers as male officers to demonstrate that he was taking active steps to stamp out any conduct by male officers which could be viewed as sexist in the unit even though there was nothing whatsoever sexist or misogynistic about the behaviour of the claimants”.

The judge added: “Rather, [the ACC] had jumped to conclusions because of the nature of the media coverage and comments he was referred to regarding that coverage.

“Having jumped to that conclusion, he then sought to establish an ex post facto justification of his decision by later suggesting that he had regard to the competencies officers required to have in the unit, which were not in his mind at all when he made the decision.

“ACC had no regard and did not even ask about the relevant procedure to be followed in permanently withdrawing firearms authorisation from the claimants before taking the decision.

“The Tribunal was of the view that the decision of [ACC] to permanently withdraw the claimants’ firearms authorisation amounted to direct discrimination, based as it was on his subjective views of male police officers conduct rather than the conduct of the claimants as individuals and an unreasonable assessment that there had been something sexist or inappropriate in the claimants’ conduct towards Ms Storm.

“The Tribunal was also of the view that there was no evidence to suggest that female officers in the same circumstances, that is having stopped on a double yellow line, engaged a celebrity (male or female) in conversation, and had their picture taken with them, would have been treated in the same manner.”

Judge Jones ruled that Police Scotland should pay a total of £48,624 to the officers as compensation for loss of income and injury to feelings.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are grateful to the employment tribunal panel for hearing the evidence in this case and for delivering their judgment.

“It is important that we now carefully consider the judgment to gather any learning and areas of improvement before commenting further.”