PC Rick Prior, the elected Chairman of the Met Police Federation, has been suspended by his own organisation for speaking out. In a GB News interview, he raised concerns that frontline officers fear accusations of racism and disciplinary investigations when dealing with people from ethnic minority communities.
It’s bad enough that frontline police feel they can’t express their concerns – but to sanction the elected representative in the very organisation that should be blowing the whistle on issues like police double standards sets a chilling precedent.
PC Prior needs your help. Chip in to our Legal Fighting Fund today so we can help him fight back against the Police Federation before it’s too late. Any unused funds that don’t go towards PC Prior’s case will be reallocated to help other FSU members in need of legal assistance.
UPDATE: Thanks to the generosity of our members and supporters, we reached our initial target within 24 hours so we’ve increased it to £150,000 to cover any additional legal costs PC Prior might incur.
UPDATE, 29 April 2025: With your help, Rick was able to issue a claim in the High Court challenging his suspension. To help meet his fundraising target, Rick gave an interview to the Telegraph newspaper, and also spoke on GB News.
At this point, proceedings took a turn to the surreal. The Police Federation brought new charges against Rick alleging that publicly discussing his case was a further disciplinary offence.
The writing was on the wall. It was clear that the Police Federation wanted Rick out of the picture before he could stand for a further three-year term in the forthcoming Federation elections. Rick did the only thing he could realistically do – funded by your generous donations, he applied for an urgent injunction to block the proceedings.
The High Court, obliged to adjudicate quickly and without a full review of the papers, ruled that Rick would first have to try his luck in front of the Police Federation disciplinary panel before he could take legal action.
The disciplinary panel went ahead and Rick’s fears were wholly vindicated. The panel removed Rick from his roles as Metropolitan Police Federation Chairman and Federation representative, and barred him from standing for election to any Federation position. In an extraordinarily vindictive move, both sanctions were imposed on a permanent basis.
All this because Rick had gone public about proceedings that anyway would be heard in open court.
If Rick is to raise money to exercise his fundamental right of access to justice, how can he be expected not to talk about the case?
Rick is now barred from standing for re-election – just weeks before the vote. If the Federation’s decision stands, his career will effectively be at an end. The Federation will have won. They will have succeeded in removing Rick from his post by force rather than letting frontline officers decide his future democratically.
Rick will not let the Federation win without a fight, and the Free Speech Union will stand by him. If you agree that the Police Federation should not get away with its shamefully unfair treatment of Rick, please make a donation so he can afford proper legal representation.
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