A police chief has defended the arrest of two parents following a dispute with their daughter's school.
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were detained in front of their nine-year-old daughter by six police officers and held in a cell for eight hours after complaining about Cowley Hill Primary School on a WhatsApp group.
Chief Constable Andy Prophet has now described their arrest as “lawful”.
“The law – and I’m answerable to the law – defines harassment really clearly as any behaviour causing alarm, harassment and distress," he told The Times.
The couple had been banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, after questioning the head teacher appointment process GOOGLE MAPS“There was a lawful reason to arrest. With the benefit of hindsight, we could have achieved the same ends in a different way... we probably could have had a conversation,” he added.
However, he said he understands why their arrest could have been viewed as “over the top”, saying the uniformed officers and several vehicles may have been unnecessary.
“We probably could have achieved it with one or two uniformed officers and if we needed some people to go in and support, we could have thought about officers in plain clothes and dealing with it a little bit lower key,” he said.
The couple were questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property.
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After police carried out a five-week investigation, they concluded no further action would be taken.
The couple's arrest on January 29 reportedly followed a complaint from the school about Allen and his partner sending multiple emails and making "disparaging" remarks in a parents' WhatsApp group.
Previously, the couple had been banned from entering Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, after questioning the head teacher appointment process and "casting aspersions" on the chairman of governors in the WhatsApp group, according to The Times.
Allen, a producer for Times Radio, told the newspaper that he and his partner were prevented from attending the parents' evening for their nine-year-old daughter Sascha.
He said the school’s approach was intended to “silence awkward parents”, and that their treatment showed a “massive overreach” by the police.
The producer called the ordeal “nightmarish”, adding: “We’d never used abusive or threatening language, even in private, and always followed due process.”
“Yet we have never even been told what these communications were that were supposedly criminal, which is completely Kafkaesque.”
Jonathan Ash-Edwards, the police and crime commissioner for Hertfordshire, condemned the arrest of the parents on Saturday.
Chief Constable Andy Prophet has called their arrest 'lawful'
PAHe said: “While people should be courteous and go through the proper channels when raising concerns about a public service, the public should be able to express their views without worrying they’ll get a knock at the door.”
This comes as it was revealed on Sunday that Councillor Michelle Vince, who represents Borehamwood on Hertfordshire County Council, was warned by Hertfordshire Constabulary that she could be investigated if she helped the parents.
She claimed police warned her that she “may find yourself liable to being recorded as a suspect in a harassment investigation” if she continued contacting the school on their behalf.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, she said she was scared they would now come after her.
