Police Admit Unlawful Arrest of Parents who Complained about School
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were arrested over messages they had sent on WhatsApp criticising their daughter’s school. Hertfordshire constabulary have now admitted unlawful arrest and agreed as £20,000 payout. The Times has the story.
A police force has admitted unlawful arrest after sending six uniformed officers to detain two parents who had complained about their school on WhatsApp.
Hertfordshire constabulary originally defended its arrest of Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine but has now agreed a £20,000 payout. The force admitted that the legal criteria for arrest were ‘not made out’ and formally accepted liability for wrongful arrest and detention.
It stood by its decision to investigate, citing the volume of correspondence sent by Allen and Levine to their daughter’s primary school.
The case led to a national debate about police overreach after the Times revealed that Allen and Levine had been detained in January in front of their young daughter before being fingerprinted, searched and left in a police cell for eight hours.
They were questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. After a five-week investigation, police concluded that there should be no further action.
Six officers, who arrived in a police van and two marked vehicles, arrested the couple after Cowley Hill Primary School, which their daughter attended, complained of a high volume of emails and disparaging comments on WhatsApp.
In April, Andy Prophet, chief constable of Hertfordshire, defended the arrests.
He said that the inspector who had approved them did not believe Allen and Levine would consent to a voluntary interview and also needed to preserve electronic devices.
However, the force’s lawyers admitted this month that the criteria for arrest, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, were not made out “therefore rendering the arrest unlawful”. The force agreed a payout of £10,000 each to Allen, 50, and Levine, 47, noting that the sum was “significantly above that required by the case law and reflects the constabulary’s desire to bring matters to a conclusion”.
Needless to say, the couple were defended by the Free Speech Union.
Worth reading in full.
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It’s great that the two innocent parents received some payout for their distress etc but it is us the taxpayer paying the taxpayer which is unacceptable. The police officer in charge should lose their job as they did not follow the law or a policeman failing to be a policeman. At the very least they should be demoted and go back to to police school to learn the error of their ways.
Chief Constable Andy Prophet is the guy in charge of that force. As the buck stops with the person who has overall responsibility for any organization, shame on this man;
https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/24850503.hertfordshire-chief-constable-andy-prophet-starts-new-role/
And I bet he’s done his Common Purpose course. I wonder what his PCC, Ash-Edwards, did to investigate this latest blunder of his “preferred candidate for the job”? Perhaps he should go too.
It seems to be part and parcel of climbing to the top ranks. Is there a single decent Chief Constable out there who actually still believes in real policing and hasn’t sold their soul in the process of furthering their own interests? I get the impression they’re all cut from the same corrupt, self-serving cloth. PR, optics, woke ideologies, DEI garbage, massive overreach using authoritarian methods, pandering to whinging minorities whilst shafting fellow white citizens/officers…Who’d honestly be a police officer nowadays?
He is a false prophet!
Not even in Soviet Russia. This has to stop. I would want £100,000 for that.
Once again, the process is the punishment. How much in taxpayers’ money was squandered to get to this result, not to mention the wear and tear on the defendants’ wellbeing. But well done FSU.
Not needless to say. It needs to announced to the country with a trumpet fanfare.
OK. Needless to say here.
Has the school addressed the parents concerns?
The police told the parents to take their daughter out of the school according the whole article. It appears that this is another State intimidation in response to individuals criticising state institutions and employees. They did not use abusive language but complained about inadequate service. This Andy Prophet probably thinks he can walk on water.
The Police haven’t paid anything out, its us the tax payer who are funding the Police’s political agenda. Its a pity it doesn’t come directly off of the senior officers salaries, that would make them think before they send out the boys to arrest hurty word writers.
Who goes to gaol?
Andy Prophet should be fired and made to pay the 20,000 out of his own pocket
The settlement seems very low to me. Deriving a citizen of their freedom unlawfully deserves a bigger payout.
Which officers have been reprimanded or sent for retaining. Down ranked?
has the LEA looked into their complaints about the school. No? Thought unlikely.
Six officers FFS. The confiscation of digital appliances is a gross intrusion. The bar is set way too low.
“Lessons will be learned” is entirely inadequate. I’d love it if they refuse the payout and insist on a day in court.
If Hertfordshire Police have made an unlawful arrest, perhaps the Chief of Police for Hertfordshire should be prosecuted. Or alternatively be made to pay the “compensation” out of his/her own salary.
Why should taxpayers fund an illegal action by Hertfordshire Police?
The punishment is the process.
I hope the school is really proud.
“Punishable by fine” basically means “legal for a price.”
Repeated breaches should result in legal sanctions against the offending organisation as well as a referral to parliament. “Look, you clearly don’t understand the law so now we’re going after the boss”