ONE of the county’s highest ranking police officers has been suspended and warned he faces criminal charges over an alleged racist rant at a taxi driver.

East Sussex Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Neil Honnor has been suspended from his role pending an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation.

An inspector is also being investigated for accessing police files following the incident and warned he could face data protection criminal charges.

The news comes just a day after The Argus revealed a Sussex Police PC was forced to apologise after sending a Facebook message in which he threatened to break a woman's fingers.

Just last week two other officers left the force over taking selfie photographs at the Shoreham air disaster crash site.

However, Assistant Chief Constable Robin Smith said disciplinary issues were not “endemic” within Sussex Police in the wake of the third high-profile incident.

The force referred the incident, which occurred while the two senior police officers were off-duty in Eastbourne on Saturday September 5, to the IPCC because of the severity of the allegations.

The IPCC is investigating claims the officers were argumentative with two different taxi drivers outside the town’s railway station before one allegedly threatened to have a driver’s taxi licence removed.

The pair then got a taxi ride home during which Mr Honnor is reported to have made “racist and offensive remarks” to the driver.

The driver complained to Sussex Police who referred it to the IPCC.

The investigation will also look into action taken by the more junior of the two police staff in accessing files following the incident. Criminal charges under the Data Protection Act and the Computer Misuse Act are being considered.

The inspector is also under investigation for failing to adequately challenge and report the improper conduct of the other officer. However, he has not been suspended.

Mr Smith said suspensions were judged on a case-by-case basis and where possible police staff under investigation were kept working and “productive” bearing in mind they were being paid taxpayers’ money.

IPCC Commissioner Jennifer Izekor said: “That a senior officer has been accused of such serious and criminal misconduct in a public setting and racist behaviour towards a member of the public is of significant concern and it is therefore appropriate that the IPCC provides independent oversight of this investigation.”

Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said: "We take any report of racism very seriously, along with any inappropriate access to police IT systems and we will co-operate with the IPCC in their investigation.”