Police arrest parents who slate school on class WhatsApp

[noblegiraffe]

A primary school sought advice from the police after '“a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts” that had become upsetting for staff, parents and governors.' and the police response was to send 6 officers to their house to arrest the couple making the posts and put them in a cell all day.

Although the couple sound like an absolute pain in the arse who should pack it in, 6 police officers seems like a teensy bit of overkill, particularly with the amount of crime currently going uninvestigated. But with schools faced with spiralling numbers of vexatious parental complaints, something needs to happen. I think some unions are starting to offer legal advice and template solicitor letters for this situation.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/d8c8566b-99b1-45c6-814b-008042d74a3a?shareToken=6deab807d148cf7695ed4d9d3664c51e

Have you read the what’s apps?? They don’t threaten anyone. Happy to screenshot!

It might be worth considering the source of that information before drawing any firm conclusions.

They didn’t do anything unlawful. So no threats, just discussion and criticism.

Because I’ve been following this . They annoyed the local LE because they complaint to the board . Because if they were abusive then changes would have been brought up , the headteacher seems to be on a vendetta against them . If she could have them persecuted she would have . There are no charges , not even for harassment. In fact as a solicitor myself, the more I read about this , the more I think someone has a few friends in the police department because there is no way this many resources to ouro have been spend without someone high up pushing a few strings .

Agree it’s a biased source however as the police never even disclosed to the couple what communication it was that they were arrested for it’s hard to judge the whole story. Also as they were released with no charge even after 6 policemen turned up to take evidence…

They were already barred from the school grounds separate to this issue.

Difficult to believe that article is entirely balanced when it's about someone who's employed by the times and the police and school are presumably hamstrung by laws around confidentiality.

If we do go by that article alone though, it would appear the parents are difficult and challenging. That's a pain for the school to deal with but not illegal.

Because if they where they would I be prosecuted ! Because they have been very open about this . Because if you follow the story , the head has been trying to do it for ages .

The police determined no crime was committed.

Based on what? What were they banned for?

If they had come and made threats to staff, the school would have called the police and the parents would have been arrested there and then.

They weren’t. They were arrested for calling the headteacher a “control freak” which is neither a threat nor is it illegal.

That’s awful that we are having these types of discussions because people are fearful of raising issues with the school about children with SEN in case they get arrested. We have gone so far wrong as a society

But unless you’re a member of the WhatsApp group you've only seen the ones the Times chose to publish. You don’t know what was in others.

No they weren't, they were arrested "on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property"

But as the police didn’t find anything it couldn’t have been any worse than the ones published.

What? Who has been very open about what? The head has been trying to do what?

Good sends a message out that this can’t be tolerated

parents that are banned from the school premises- says all you need to know about these people

But they would have known this prior to arriving
Surely someone could have read the emails
and made a decision to just invite them in for a chat.

The police need to look at the optics. Cars stolen, houses burgled (friend was in at the time armed men broke in) 999 call led to a couple of police officers arriving 45minutes later and handing her a crime number

Yet 6 policemen for a couple of pissed off parents and some what’s app messages

Personally I think teachers and how schools are run nowadays is part of the problem.

Instead of primary schools getting all children to a certain level where they know how to read and write and do basic maths. Now, if you can’t do this by year 2 then you are left behind

Sometimes there is a kernel of truth under all the shouting and pissed off emails

I wonder given the position the parents were in. Is it possible they knew something about the HT that others weren’t privy to

Because even though no charges have been brought against the couple at this time, doesn't mean the school can't press for further action if their behaviour persists.

Plus, the dad is a producer for Times Radio! That's why this article in The Times soft-soaps their actions. It's the same media company!

And the police wouldn't have arrested them without cause and the six officers were necessary. Two to arrest each parent, two to oversea each child until childcare could be organised and two to impound all the electronics – which they have to do simultaneously with the arrests so none could be wiped/trashed/binned by the parents.

Based on what evidence?

The article states that the school and police were asked to put their side of the story but refused to do so.

As for the conjecture that schools don’t behave like this to children and families for no reason, I have personally seen cases where they have behaved very similarly to what’s described in the article (minus the police) to parents who have not been abusive or aggressive, but because the parents have challenged the school staff’s decisions and tried to enforce the legal rights of children with disabilities, and the school is trying to force them to withdraw the child.

It seems highly unlikely that the parents would publicise it in this manner if they were at fault, and that the police would have dropped the case if there was any evidence to support the school’s allegations. Occam’s Razor applies.

Strange that a solicitor would say persecuted. You mean prosecuted…

Good!

Enough evidence to arrest with a six strong force but not enough for any charges to be brought.
Interesting evidence

general complaining about someone in a private conversation (real life or on whatsapp) isn't "slander" though

particularly when we don't know
a) what exactly was said
b) whether it was true or not!

Absolutely. It was completely unnecessary to arrest them. They could and should have looked at the evidence beforehand