Police federation suspends Met chair after GB News interview about officers’ racism fears
The chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation has been suspended after he told GB News that fears over “vexatious” investigations meant that police officers were hesitating before engaging with minority ethnic Londoners.
Referring to the reaction from recent investigations into police conduct, Rick Prior claimed that officers have withdrawn from applying the law fairly to all backgrounds.
“They will draw away from that because of these vexatious, malicious investigations. They will look at the situation and prefer to go and do something else,” said Prior.
“They are actively not engaging with people they should be engaging with for fear of complaint and suspension.”
He also told GB News that the Met’s leadership was hampered by the “racism of low expectations,” in that it failed to call out what he termed as “bad behaviour” by some minority ethnic Londoners that had led to high-profile confrontations with cops.
He said that “for fear of upsetting certain elements of the community, they don’t call out bad behaviour.
“This encourages people to behave poorly.”
GB News understands that Prior has tonight been suspended by the Police Federation of England and Wales due to his comments.
Prior was elected as the chair of the Met’s branch in April this year.
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GB News understands that his remarks have been considered discriminatory in nature and controversial, which could undermine the reputation of the federation.
Richard Cooke, chair of the West Midlands Police Federation, told GB News that he was “shocked & saddened” to hear of Rick’s suspension.
“He is a great chair, undoubtedly only motivated by truly representing his members and the concerns of ordinary bobbies.
“He’s done a great job so far and I hope this matter can be quickly addressed so he can return to what he does best: giving a voice to our rank and file Met colleagues who desperately need it.”
But Andy George, President of the National Black Police Association, said that Prior was “completely out of line” with his language.
“His words have a profound impact on the Met’s ability to keep all Londoners safe.
“The Met needs the trust of all communities in London to solve crime and prevent harm and Rick’s comments further alienate people who have the least trust in policing to protect them.”
He added: “The Police Federation is in chaos and Rick’s suspension is the latest in a long line of scandals coming from PFEW HQ, from failing to support all members to financial irregularities and mismanagement.”
Lee Broadbent, former chair of the Greater Manchester Police Federation, said it was a “perverse decision” to suspend Prior.
He told GB News that Prior had been “punished for speaking out”.
An officer in the Metropolitan Police, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticised the move and said the PFEW had “repeatedly failed to look after the interests of its members.”
The officer added: “At the moment, our only representation is a federation that doesn’t represent us and doesn’t seem to want to.”