Rother District Council have issued this statement on their site (as advised by a comment posted by one of their staff on the earlier article this morning):
"Reports in two national newspapers have suggested that Rother District Council removed a comment to a planning application on its website which contained the words 'do as you likey.' The inference being that this comment was removed because 'likey' rhymes with 'pikey' - a derogatory term for a member of the gypsy community.
This was not the case and Rother District Council did not inform the media that the comment was removed for this reason. It was actually removed because of other remarks made which could clearly have been considered inflammatory and were obviously unsuitable for a public website.
The email was removed from the Rother site after members of the public complained to the Council and Sussex Police about its content. This matter was the subject of a report to the Council's planning committee and members of the planning committee were asked at the time to disregard it during their deliberations.
The Council was happy to assist Sussex Police in their investigation.
Rother District Council takes the matter of offensive comments made on its website very seriously and is satisfied it acted appropriately in removing these comments. The chief executive is also reviewing how these remarks got onto the website in the first place since they had clearly evaded the filtering process.
Ch Insp Heather Keating, Rother District policing commander, said: "We received a complaint of crime - something we are obliged to investigate - and are satisfied that we acted appropriately in identifying the owner of the computer and through this action, the writer of the article concerned. While this particular case did not result in prosecution, we are committed to applying the law fairly in all circumstances.
"I am now aware that one of the men involved in the investigation is dissatisfied with our response and we will work with him to resolve the issues he has raised. As this liaison is ongoing, I cannot comment further at this time
"Sussex Police has a legal duty to promote community cohesion and tackle unlawful discrimination. We take all racial complaints seriously and will respond with a fair and thorough investigation into any alleged discrimination. We also take on board the public's views to help shape our approach to tackling racially-aggravated crime."
Date 12 January 2010"
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Thanks for the other side of the story Saabfan.
ReplyDeleteI encourage everyone on this blog to read it. It offers no counter arguement and discribes a situation that should have had no police involvement whatsoever.
Quote - "Sussex Police has a legal duty to promote community cohesion and tackle unlawful discrimination".
No it doesn't. And arresting, detaining and taking DNA does not acheive any of the above anyway.
"We received a complaint of crime - something we are obliged to investigate"
ReplyDelete"We are committed to applying the law fairly in all circumstances."
If the IT boss had rung them to report a break in, he would probably have been given a crime number to pass on to his insurers. A REAL crime with proven long term consequences.
Yet the mere suggestion of "offending" someone receives a totally disproportionate response. In the article I read, the IT man claims to have a good friend from the travelling community who uses the term all the time.
"I am now aware that one of the men involved in the investigation is dissatisfied with our response and we will work with him to resolve the issues he has raised."
I'm sure we can all guess who that is! And we can also guess what the outcome will be - remove his DNA from the database? - Sorry, no can do....
Since comrade Ball upset the policc they are proving how active they are
ReplyDelete- and what easier than arresting a white middle class male for being politically corrct.
That will show they dont love being in their warm offices wont it.
sorry I meant to write 'for being politically incorrect'
ReplyDeleteYou get the point - I hope.
Why is it that whenever I read or hear a council "spokesperson" or senior Policeperson trying to justify their over the top responses and tactics, I can never take the words seriously and I never feel less angry about the original story?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy trying to defend the indefensible responsibly.
Quite right, the term "Pikey" is offensive. I prefer to call them "Caravan Using Nomadic Travellers"
ReplyDeleteAt Xmas we reported an attack on a friend of ours by a 30 strong gang of hoodies/feral youths outside the local British Legion Club.
ReplyDeleteOur friend ended up being airlifted to hospital, next day, with a broken shoulder.
The Police did, eventually, turn up and said 'We can't do anything as he has not made a complaint'.
Untrue under Scottish Law.
On being pressed, they then said 'Well, we can go and have a word with them'!!!
Shockin'
Is "a member of the gypsy community" the same as "a gypsy"?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see they used their valuable time to track this individual down.
ReplyDeleteBetter than actually using it to hunt those robbing, raping and murdering.
After all, we have targets to meet....
~FatBob~
Typical response of those who have been caught out by adverse publicity to their actions, and it would be so typical of the police too, if they refuse to remove the dna from their database.
ReplyDeleteBucko
ReplyDelete"Sussex Police has a legal duty to promote community cohesion and tackle unlawful discrimination".
You are, of course, correct. Police constables have no duty to promote community cohesion (whatever that's supposed to mean).
And while they might - might - have a duty to tackle ILLEGAL discrimination, UNLAWFUL is a different matter.
Lawful and legal are not the same thing - the police are interested in legal only.
Perhaps it,s time for our burgeoning Race Relations industry to publish a clear definition of RACE because I think the word is being wrongly used. Surely, a French person is NOT of a different Race to an English one - he/she is a only a different NATIONALITY. I'm English and calling me a Whingeing Pom may be rude but I would not be RACIALLY offended.
ReplyDelete