Police Chief Suspended for Rejecting “Nonsense” Racism Claims Launches Legal Battle
The head of the West Midlands Police Federation is taking legal action after being ousted for rejecting claims that racism is widespread among his colleagues. The Telegraph has the story.
Richard Cooke, who was elected to represent 7,000 rank and file officers in the country’s second largest police force, was suspended and banned from standing in recent elections following comments he made on the X social media platform.
Responding to claims made in a Channel 4 news report that racism and misogyny were widespread in West Midlands Police, Mr Cooke wrote: “…I don’t recognise these attitudes. They do not represent us – we are an anti-racist organisation.”
In a second tweet, he dismissed suggestions that the force had done nothing to tackle racism, writing: “Nonsense – and so was the report but these reporters rarely bother checking their sources.”
Following the remarks, which were made in December, Mr Cooke was suspended by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) from his position as branch chairman pending an investigation.
Bosses at the police union claimed his comments risked “alienating those of our members who might be victims of discriminatory treatment – effectively leaving them with nowhere to turn for support and representation’”.
It is understood the suspension came after the two officers who had featured in the original Channel 4 News report lodged a complaint.
Mr Cooke lodged an appeal against his suspension but that was dismissed at a hearing in March he was not invited to attend.
He was also banned from standing for election for three years meaning he was not on the recent ballot papers and so has now been replaced as branch chairman.
With the support of the Free Speech Union he is challenging the process in the courts and is looking to join forces with Rick Prior, the former chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who was sacked in similar circumstances for comments he made in the media.
Mr Cooke, who has been elected as branch chairman in three separate elections since 2018, said he had been the victim of a “witch hunt”.
Worth reading in full.
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The State is definitely under attack from bad players. The funding of which should be an urgent topic of investigation for the MSM.
However,never forget this all started under the (never to be trusted again) Tories.
Stopping elected officials from standing for reelection says a great deal about the attitude to democracy of those doing the banning
This is essentially a political matter so should be left to the voters to decide, but we probably know why that won’t happen
Not only are you expected to toe the line, you also have to work out where that line is at any particular moment. But if your ‘face’ doesn’t fit it’s only too easy for others to engineer your ‘failure’.
Just why?
”The Metropolitan Police created a recruitment video in a foreign language.
Shouldn’t all applicants speak fluent English if they desire to be a public servant in England?”
https://x.com/ArchRose90/status/1939394738374983751
The police service of today bears no resemblance to the police service I joined in 1989. I am embarrassed by today’s police service. It is broken, beyond repair, because those who remembered how policing was done effectively back in the old days, and could have helped guide it back to sanity, have all gone.
A year or so before I left, there was the usual regular staff survey going around (I seem to remember it was annual). One of the questions was “If you had to call the police, would you be confident of receiving a good service?”, something like that. If memory serves, I think only *16%* of staff thought the service they would receive would be to a good standard. Even it’s own staff had no faith in the service they provided.
I agree with Peter Hitchens that the way forward is to disband all police services and set up new forces.
“Richard Cooke, who was ELECTED to represent 7,000 rank and file officers…”
See how easily the Communist Subversives & Globalists overthrow democracy?
Well done to Lord Toby Young and the Free Speech Union for coming to the defence of this falsely accused Police Officer elected as head of the West Midlands Police Federation, and for helping him to join forces with the other falsely accused Police Officer Rick Prior, former head of the Metropolitan Police Federation.
The Globalists are determined to drive the good people out of the security & intelligence services, as well as the Armed Forces of the UK, in the kind of Stalinist Purge reminiscent of Marxist Obama, who “purged” hundreds of good, high-ranking officers out of the American military.
Obama’s Military Coup Purges 197 Officers In Five Years | Investor’s Business Daily
“For President Obama, the military of a once-feared superpower is an anachronistic vestige of an America whose exceptionalism and world leadership require repeated apologies. It must be gutted and fundamentally transformed into a force wearing gender-neutral headgear only useful for holding the presidential umbrella when it rains. It is to be “his” military and used only for “his” purposes.”
So basically, within the Police, you’re not allowed to deny accusations of waycism … or present any evidence to support your view.