Do we have a thread for the DC Rachel Fletcher misconduct hearing?

[DoneByTheFuckingRainbowUnit]

I've had a search and I can't find one. She's the chair of Police SEEN, and is up for gross misconduct, for making the following comments in the police station where she was based:

1. all men should be on a curfew
2. see, that wouldn’t have happened if men were on a curfew (in response to a reported rape)
3. all men are rapists
4. I hate men
5. trans women are all cocks in frocks.

The tribunal tweets coverage is here:
tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/police-misconduct-hearing-dc-fletcher

I am very confused at the moment. The tribunal is still going on. Anyone know what is happening? Is the panel in the earlier part of the morning the police panel they are discussing or the decision by the ET panel?

Looking at it I don’t think a decision has been made yet. The second session has taken place this morning where the request is for a final written warning, and there is another session planned for this afternoon.

My thoughts exactly, even if she did say them. And it sounds like it’s hearsay.

Indeed!

No

The above may be wrong sorry. I only looked quickly

This was this morning, 11.50 ish

That was part 1 of the panel's findings apparently.
Naomi is now arguing that any punishment should be on the low end of the gross misconduct options e.g. final written warning. She is citing character refs, no member of the public harmed, no aggravating factors. Plus public confidence in policing.

All those of us with sons (surely a good number of people on a site called Mumsnet) would be disgusted that a police officer was alleged to say such sexist things-if my son was missing, I would expect them to care about his welfare as much as my daughter's. Bringing up both my children to be caring and respectful of everyone-and if someone says they hate them based just on their sex, that would hardly help anyone being brought up to think society is against them. And saying you hate a whole group of people for something they can't help, whether their skin colour, sex or anything else, is awful-if it's true.

I'd be more worried about the number of police forces employing male rapists and officers like those men in the Met who took photos of murdered women and shared them for entertainment purposes in a WhatsApp group. Or those men (also in the Met, but elsewhere too, I expect) who engaged in sexual harassment and bullying of their female colleagues.

Take a look at this, from the Centre for Women's Justice:

https://www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk/case-studies/2022/12/1/police-misogyny-chloes-case

"Chloe and her female colleague contacted the Professional Standards Department, who deal with misconduct by police officers, and reported WhatsApp groups amongst officers that they knew about with sexist and misogynistic content, including posting pictures of male genitalia, manufactured and graphic images, comments putting women down and racist and rape jokes. They felt that if victims of sexual offences knew about this sort of material they wouldn’t feel comfortable reporting to those officers. After this was investigated by Professional Standards no disciplinary action was taken, only words of advice given to some individuals. When they expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of a strong response Chloe and her colleague were told that a training talk would be given to address the problem."

My italics.

And now compare with what DC Fletcher is alleged to have done. "I hate men" and "All men are rapists" (if indeed she said those things) are just throwaway remarks no doubt borne out of exasperation from having to deal with the constant sludge of male violence and male sexual abuse that ends up at your door if you're a police officer. The fact that her superiors went after her rather than the men who are the real problem demonstrates exactly how much misogyny is embedded in our criminal justice system.

Wow. Makes you wonder what the banter was like at the police station where they gave Wayne Couzens the nickname “the rapist”.

The fact that her superiors went after her rather than the men who are the real problem demonstrates exactly how much misogyny is embedded in our criminal justice system.

This. It's the double standards. And it's not even really double standards, it's a means of getting a woman out who's pissing them right off.

It is.

But. If there's proof of her having said it, there's no arguing that it's unprofessional, biased and against all codes. It was at best unwise.

The fact that there's a whole lot of men in the same work force who:

have very frequently said much worse and got away with it
largely because no one chased them to a hearing
or cares about doing so
since it's largely about women etc
and largely because those men were not posing a political risk to an extremist anti-women agenda

and their behaviour couldn't be weaponised to further said political agenda

is bloody galling. Yes.

It’s such bullshit.

I hope that she takes them to an ET. Even if she said all that was alleged it absolutely wasn't gross misconduct by any stretch of the imagination.

Please can anyone clarify how the hearing ended. From TT on twitter, the panel found dismissal to be necessary. But then there was mention of written submissions from the parties by 11 August?

This is to do with ‘right to review’. They are allowed 14 days to ask the panel to review their decision for various specific reasons. They can’t just say I don’t like the decision but could argue that not enough weight was given to a specific piece of evidence (that’s just me guessing). I think it’s unusual for them to change their decision. They then have a longer time frame to consider appeal which would involve a different panel.

Absolutely. Feels like a hatchet job because she’s challenging the predominantly male culture at her nick.

I tried to follow this in part, but I think I must have missed big chunks. As far as I can see, it went along the lines of:

RF said hatey words about trans....burn the witch... oh, arse, she is allowed to express these views.....oh, did she say hurry words about men, too....let's get her for that instead

Nevertheless, the comment, which wasn't part of the misconduct hearing seems apposite: "I'm getting done by the fucking rainbow unit"

By way of (possibly coincidental) background Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine is NPCC lead for its LGBTQI+ portfolio with joint responsibility for its Interim transgender search policy (the thing Sex Matters was in Court for to try to overturn the policy) which effectively allows transgender detainees to consent to being searched or request a search by an officer of their preferred gender.

Northumberland police was also in the news recently when Linzi Smith brought a Judicial review against Ms Jardine. The High Court upheld Linzi Smith’s application and ruled that the active participation of Northumbria Police in Newcastle Pride in 2024 was unlawful because it breached the force’s duty of impartiality.

In case anyone is interested there is a go fund me.

To help with living costs

Rachel fletcher fired for opposing unlawful police searches

https://x.com/i/status/2083883642485412349

Apparently, according to Rachel she said “all rapists are men” which is true, not “all men are rapists”.

Apparently, according to Rachel she said “all rapists are men” which is true, not “all men are rapists”.

Even if she did say “all men are rapists” why was her female colleague so fragile that they needed to report this as hate speech? It's incredibly flimsy grounds for firing someone.

She’s a fucking legend if she says all that other than all men are rapists.

Hello everyone, I’m Rachel Fletcher the subject of this thread. Thank you for your interest in my case and for discussing it. I was dismissed without notice by a misconduct hearing panel and have until 11th August to apply to appeal but am unsure if I have grounds as yet - police misconduct hearings are kangaroo courts and the panel can do what it wants. If I can I will because I lived my job helping victims of horrible crimes. I already have an ET claim in and the tribunal itself will be scheduled for some time in 2027 at the case management hearing on 6th August. I’m on X more than here but a friend messaged to tell me I’d “made Mumsnet” which I take as a point of pride so thought I’d say hello. Whether you believe and support me or not is immaterial to some extent, what’s important is that the public know what’s really going on in their police forces.