Former Trainee PC Banned from Policing Over Rape Joke

A police misconduct panel has permanently prohibited a former trainee police constable from serving in the force, following his resignation. Kennedy Lungu, who was undergoing training with Thames Valley Police in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, was informed he would have been dismissed had he not already resigned. During a discussion about sex, Mr. Lungu made the statement, “no does not really mean no.” The panel also identified other offensive remarks made by him, which are too explicit to be published. In imposing a lifetime ban from policing, the panel stated it found no extenuating circumstances on Mr. Lungu’s behalf, “other than noting that he was very early in his career.” The panel heard details of an incident at the training centre where a female officer was collecting her bag, while Mr. Lungu and other colleagues awaited their turn. Mr. Lungu instructed the woman to hasten, and when questioned about his actions if she did not comply, he responded with a joke about raping her. Furthermore, the panel determined that after Mr. Lungu and his class viewed a video concerning domestic abuse, he made a comment suggesting that the “woman in question deserved it.” A colleague testified to the panel, recalling “many times arriving in class and former officer Lungu talking about sex and talking at lunch about sex.” His conduct was characterized by the panel as “intentional, deliberate, targeted and planned,” concluding that it “amounted to abuse of women and girls.” Mr. Lungu was not present at the hearing, which took place last week at Thames Valley Police’s headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.