1,000 signatures reached
To: Sussex Police and Crime Panel, and Sussex PCC Katy Bourne
Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne must resign
We call upon Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne to resign. Police and Crime Commissioners swear an oath of impartiality and promise to serve every member of the public impartially. Instead, Bourne publicises her support for the extreme right, and deliberately stokes division by:
- Marching at the front of anti-asylum seeker marches in Crowborough with known far-right figures from organisations such as Advance UK, UKIP, Raise the Colours, Britain First, BNP, and the Pink Ladies, a far-right women’s group. (1)
- Conducting an anti-migrant media campaign, including calling for asylum seekers to have electronic tags fitted to them, which the Home Office has rejected as a breach of human rights.(2)
- Using her role as PCC to garner support of the extreme right, and as a platform for her campaign to become Conservative Mayor of Sussex.
- Blaming migrants for violence against women instead of effectively tackling the very real violence against women in Sussex. Her focus on migrants as the source of attacks on women and children is inaccurate. One woman every four days in the UK is murdered by a partner or ex-partner. (3) More than 90% of perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are known to their victims. One in two rapes against women are carried out by a partner or ex-partner. These perpetrators are not migrants housed in barracks. Bourne’s misinformation fuels racism and distracts from the real efforts to tackle violence against women and children.
Why is this important?
This is a time of high levels of racial and religious hate crimes. (4) (5) This is also a time of polarisation, with over half of Britons believing that differences in people’s political views are so divisive that it is dangerous for society. (6)
Bourne’s public championing of far-right narratives exacerbates divisions and signals to victims of hate crimes and the people of Sussex that they cannot expect impartiality from police.
Katy Bourne has violated her oath of impartiality. We call for her immediate resignation.
(4) https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/crime-and-reoffending/victims-of-racial-and-religious-hate-crime/latest/#full-page-history
(5) https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/news/hate-crime-uk-schools
(6) https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/85-britons-continue-believe-britain-divided-over-half-think-differences-peoples-political-views-are
Bourne’s public championing of far-right narratives exacerbates divisions and signals to victims of hate crimes and the people of Sussex that they cannot expect impartiality from police.
Katy Bourne has violated her oath of impartiality. We call for her immediate resignation.
(4) https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/crime-and-reoffending/victims-of-racial-and-religious-hate-crime/latest/#full-page-history
(5) https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/news/hate-crime-uk-schools
(6) https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/85-britons-continue-believe-britain-divided-over-half-think-differences-peoples-political-views-are
