Revealed: The school WhatsApp messages that led to six police officers raiding ‘reasonable’ couple’s home before arresting them and holding them in a cell for 11 hours

23 comments

1. The damage is already done. All it takes is to get through to a minority of people who will now believe anything they say over text or WhatsApp will now get them arrested, the scare factor is enough for them. Two tier kiers police state is really taking off!

2. Atrocious behaviour by the school and more importantly , by the police. They are not there to protect some sensitive souls hurty feelings, especially when the criticism reported here is as minor as it is!

3. For anyone that’s not familiar. The school used to law to attempt to silence a couple when they questioned the hiring practices of the primary school.

   They were released when the police found insufficient evidence to seek a conviction.

   An absolute abuse of power and authority on the schools part.

4. The police will now arrest you for causing hurty feelings or scrutiny.

5. The police officers should resign. As a police officer you have a certain amount of leeway when responding to an incident. All they had to do was say show me the texts. In fact that’s all the police had to do before they sent anyone out. Show us the malicious communications. Nothing in those text was in the slightest bit inappropriate. The school head/board should resign too.

6. Good. Tory wanker.

7. Once you learn to see them, these small tyrranies are everywhere.

8. What were the messages?

9. What’s more shocking is that there were 6 police officers available for this

10. [removed]

11. It’s been clear for decades that the malicious communications act isn’t fit for purpose, but I wouldn’t want to be the policy writer trying to balance a law that is sufficiently wide to capture legitimate digital harassment but narrow enough to allow people being pieces of shit.

    That said, without the actual messages here it’s impossible to make a judgement about whether the police should be having a word. And my instinct is that the messages would have been included in the story if they were sympathetic.

12. I’m shocked people shocked by this schools are insane when it comes to their power trips its not like years ago.

13. This is what happens when you make a priggish mannequin with the rigid authoritarian demeanour of a traffic warden PM

14. Two Tier Kier loves this style of governance

15. how pathetic tbh if it was me it would just encourage me to do it even more.

16. Good to see our taxes are being spent so efficiently!

    /s

17. I distinctly remember people on reddit claiming “we don’t know the full story yet” and assuming the parents MUST have done something to warrant this.

    In reality, it’s just perverse incentives. Everyone in Herts police from Sgt rank up is more incentivised to be heavy handed in these cases, leading to spurious arrests, than review the evidence before arrest and NFA the case based on that.

    We’re in hell, and it’s only going to get worse.

18. It’s harder to believe the principal of a primary school is embroiled in police corruption than it is to believe that we aren’t being shown the worst messages. 

19. I’ve no doubt there is a lot more to this story then that absolute shitrag newspaper chooses to report, however good their compofaces are.

20. Six police officers for a sarcastic moan on WhatsApp. Meanwhile muggings and burglaries, not to mention rape are effectively decriminalised.

21. This is scary stuff. We’re seeing this more and more. Big brother is getting worse.

22. I seen an interview with the guy on YouTube yesterday, the whole story is insane.

23. Police in the UK is a failed institution, I wonder how it can ben reformed…

    “Andy Prophet, the chief constable, said: ‘As the new chief constable for Hertfordshire my priorities are to fight crime, arrest criminals and build public trust and confidence. We will do this by tackling violent and sexual crime, street robbery, burglary, car and shop theft. I am equally focused on supporting my officers and staff in the difficult judgments they have to make on our behalf every day.'”

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