The 10 officers claimed their rights to privacy were at threat of being breached after superiors wanted to reprimand them over messages sent over WhatsApp.
It was alleged they shared offensive messages among private groups – one called “Quality Polis” – of which they were members.
One messages is said to have contained anti-Semitic content. One image allegedly found was a picture of Hitler with the caption: “I said a glass of juice, not gas the Jews.”
The officers instructed lawyers to go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to seek a legal order to prevent their superiors from starting discipline procedures against them.
Their legal team also asked judge Lord Bannatyne to declare that using these private messages against them amounted to a breach of Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Lawyers went to the Court of Session to seek the legal order to protect the officers (Image: Wikipedia )
However, in a judgment issued yesterday at Scotland’s highest civil court, Lord Bannatyne ruled in favour of Police Scotland.
He refused to grant the orders being sought by the officers and said that Police Scotland was entitled to launch disciplinary procedures.
Lord Bannatyne said this was because the alleged content of the messages could undermine the perception among members of the public that the police were unbiased and respectful of differences of race, religion and sexuality.
The judge also said that police officers agree to a set of standards upon joining the service which bind them to acting fairly and that these alleged messages arguably contravened the guidelines dictating how police officers act.
Lord Bannatyne wrote: “The principle purpose of the police is the
