Officer resigns over BNP badge

[Wideboy]

A Greater Manchester police officer has been forced to resign after he was seen wearing a British National Party (BNP) badge at a football match.
Stuart Janaway, 36, from Irlam in Salford, wore the BNP badge to a game at Old Trafford in September 2006, while he was off duty.
A misconduct hearing was held last Friday after an investigation by the force's Professional Standards Branch.
As a result, police said Mr Janaway was "required to resign".
'High standards'
Acting Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney, head of the Professional Standards Branch, said: "Item six of the Chief Constable's Order of 2004...makes it clear that officers are banned from being members of the BNP, Combat 18 or the National Front.
"This requirement extends into the private lives of police officers and police staff."
Mr Sweeney said all officers are aware that the implications of not complying with the regulations "will likely result in [their] dismissal".
"The officer failed to live up to the high standards we demand of everyone serving in the force," he said.
Mr Janaway had served in GMP for 14 years and worked as a Pc based at Longsight.
A BNP spokesman said: "We think what police officers do in their own time is up to them.
"We trust them to be able to do their job when they're working and operate in a fair and impartial way."

taken from bbc webby

well...what do you think Wide Boy?

[yorkie_chris]

I think it's out of order.

I like the quote about Voltaire "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Are police officers also banned from being members of ANL etc? There's been plenty violence from those guys against BNP, who were valid candidates in local elections here. Democratic or what.

Was it proved that the bloke was a BNP member? Or was he simply a supporter? The rules prohibit being a member (rightly so I think), not wearing a badge.

Originally Posted by Ed

The rules prohibit being a member (rightly so I think), not wearing a badge.

Why is that right? Are you going to ban public servants from being members of every party you don't like?

Item six of the Chief Constable's Order of 2004...makes it clear that officers are banned from being members of the BNP,

but they can join the SNP, labour, tories liberal democrats, plaid cymru etc

[yorkie_chris]

Like I say there'll be no rule against a copper wearing a che guevera T shirt

dont give a fig to be honest

[northwind]

Not sure on this one. Being a BNP supporter or member isn't as simple as it once was, it used to be a pretty reliable sign of being a complete **** but not so much now. But then again, someone wearing a BNP badge to the foorball is most probably a ****. Sure, it's his personal life but if you're openly racist (or pro-white, whatever) in private then that's pretty likely to affect your judgement and actions on the job.

Plus, there's the legal side- imagine he's in court giving evidence against an asian kid and the lawyer brings this up. That'd certainly affect the prosecution, and that's a problem too.

It does seem like it could affect his ability to do the job. But, meh, I think banning people from being in the police for being a member of a political party is a bit of a worry, in this case I think it's probably worked out fine but these days not every BNP member fits the stereotype, for all sorts of reasons. I pretty much completely hate the BNP and their founding principles but Combat 18 and the National Front are single-issue extremist groups, the BNP aren't. YC is spot on there too, why ban violent racist groups but not violent anti-racist groups?

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I like the quote about Voltaire "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

That wasn't voltaire

[yorkie_chris]

I thought it was just said about his general attitude... who was it then?

The BNP will probably never win an election, but they might just make whatever ruling power $hit themselves enough to maybe do what the people voting ask them to... isn't that what democracy is about?

The common BNP voter around here is an unemployed and feckless chav, whose only reason to be racist is a) for the sake of it and b) asians draw more giro. But violent as an organisation? No. The top lot are trying too hard to be a serious political force for that. C18, british movement, yes. NF, again wanting to be political.

Anyway now I'm ranting, have you ever read any BNP literature? They're not actually so overtly racist as the media would make out.

P.s Before I get something thrown at me, I voted for someone else.