School disputes: a police matter?

If the story of Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine's arrest had broken a few days later, "you'd think it was an April Fool", said Toby Young in The Times. In late January, six uniformed police officers turned up at their house in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. They detained them in front of their three-year-old daughter, then took them to a police station and locked them in a cell for 11 hours.

The reason for all this? Their elder daughter's primary school, Cowley Hill, had lodged a complaint after the couple criticised its recruiting process for the new head. The school also complained that the pair had been "casting aspersions" on the chair of governors in a WhatsApp group. "Instead of telling the school that this was not a police matter – or, indeed, just guffawing", Hertfordshire Police questioned the couple on suspicion of harassment, sending malicious communications and causing a nuisance. After a five-week investigation, the couple were told that no further action would be taken.

Following a recent review, Hertfordshire's chief constable found that the arrests were "lawful", but could have been better handled, said Fintan McGuinness in the Watford Observer. The school had accused the couple of a campaign of harassment, and banned them from the premises last June. Even so, teachers claimed, harassment continued via email; so the police were contacted. Officers asked the couple to desist in December, to no avail – hence the arrest. The police ultimately found no offences had been committed; but said they'd had a duty to investigate.

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Whatever the complexities, it is "outrageous" that the school reacted to parental grievances in this way, said the Daily Mail. And it's absurd that the police response was so "Orwellian". Hertfordshire Constabulary has "the worst burglary clear-up rate in the country". It should stick to solving real crimes. Some may dismiss this as a mere skirmish in the culture wars, said Matthew Syed in The Sunday Times. I disagree: I think it's "a symptom of a disease". We have "lost sight of the wisdom that a bit of suffering, stress and criticism is part of the human condition". These things don't require intervention by the state – or anything except a little "inner resilience".