Police and Crime Commissioner launches legal challenge after police and crime panel censure

Councillors sitting on the panel voted in January to support a motion to censure PCC Katy Bourne, despite advice from the PCC’s monitoring officer that warned the move would be ultra vires.  

According to minutes of the meeting, councillors backed the censure in light of her decision to attend the protest, as well as comments about asylum seekers she made on Radio Sussex and “actions” on social media.

The motion claimed that her “lack of impartiality” brought the office of commissioner and policing into disrepute.

The chief executive and monitoring officer for the PCC, Mark Streater, meanwhile told members during the meeting that he believed the decision was ultra vires.

In a point of order, he said that, under Section 28(6) of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, the primary duty of the panel is to scrutinise, support and make recommendations with respect to the discharge of the PCC’s functions.

“Any concerns about the PCC’s conduct should be raised through the established disciplinary and complaints process, instead of being discussed at the meeting,” Streater said.

Streater asked for the minutes to record that he “did not recognise this motion as a formal duty or response of the Panel and stated that he believed it was contrary to the Act, the duties of the Panel and was ultra vires”.

He also asked the panel why it did not either pursue the processes in place to deal with formal complaints against the PCC or notify and inform him of the planned approach prior to the meeting.

Speaking during the meeting, Bourne said the panel was “not behaving as a critical friend”, and suggested that her actions on social media had been in a personal capacity and that some of her comments had been misrepresented.

She also stated that her motivations had been to engage with local residents and hear their concerns, that she had only attended one march, and that it was her role to be the voice of the public in policing and to understand their views. She also complained that she “felt harassed” for doing her job.

A spokesperson for the Sussex Police Crime Commissioner has since confirmed the body has launched a legal challenge over the censure, claiming the decision was outside of the Police and Crime Panel’s statutory authority, not in accordance with natural justice and was in breach of Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The commissioner is currently awaiting a response to the pre-action protocol letter, which calls for the withdrawal of the censure motion and for members to issue a public apology.

A spokesperson for the Police and Crime Panel said: “We have now received correspondence from the Commissioner’s solicitors, to which we will be responding fully in due course.”

Adam Carey