The Metropolitan Police Federation chair has spoken to GB News about legal action he is taking after he was “silenced and called” for suggesting officers were worried about being labelled racist.
Rick Prior represents 30,000 rank-and-field officers across London and was suspended as chairman in October over comments he made during an appearance on the people’s channel.
He was removed from his democratically elected post for saying his members were becoming nervous about challenging people from some ethnic minorities.
He told GB News: “Officers I represent are hesitating over these proactive duties.
Rick Prior was suspended following a GB News interview
GB NEWS
“We’ve seen violent crime, knife crime, rise significantly. I said it was incumbent on police officers to call out poor behaviour when they see it. That’s my job. I am an elected official and I am elected to represent 30,000 officers.
“Importantly, I am also elected to act in the public interest. Me having been cancelled, silenced and suspended has not only removed my voice from the 30,000 officers I have been elected to represent, my public interest function has also been removed for the discourse to take place.”
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Rick Prior was suspended after an October 2024 interview
GB NEWS
Prior told GB News in October: “There’s a striking crisis of confidence at the moment within policing in general and certainly within the Met Police.
“Officers are withdrawing from any kind of proactive policing for fear of falling foul of the IOPC [Independent Office of Police Conduct] or a vexatious or malicious complaint.”
He said officers were becoming increasingly uneasy about using force after high-profile incidents like a constable being convicted of assault after challenging a woman who refused to show a valid bus ticket.
While the conviction was quashed, Prior said such incidents were taking their toll.
Rick Prior spoke to Martin Daubney on GB News
GB NEWS
The day after the interview was broadcast, he was suspended by the federation for comments that were allegedly “discriminatory in nature”.
The suspension means he is not able to stand in union elections which will take place next month.
He has enrolled the Free Speech Union to help with the legal complaint and he heaped praise on its founder, Toby Young.
“The Free Speech Union has been fantastic to me”, he said.
“I would like to thank Lord Toby Young who has supported me from the off. They instructed lawyers to look at this for me and it was their opinion I had been treated unlawfully.
“As a consequence, we are now taking the police federation to the High Court to review the decision to suspend me.”
A spokesman for the Police Federation of England and Wales told the Telegraph: “The Metropolitan Police Federation chair was suspended pending an investigation, which is ongoing.
“In terms of the judicial review, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on a specific legal case. However, the federation’s governance processes are set out in statutory regulation, which we comply with fully at all times.”
