A formal complaint is to be lodged after members of the Sussex Police & Crime Panel voted to censure the Police & Crime Commissioner.
During a meeting at the end of January, a motion was passed declaring the Panel had ‘lost confidence’ in Katy Bourne following her decision to join a march protesting the housing of asylum seekers at a military site in Crowborough.
A spokesman has now said: “The Office of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner will be lodging a formal complaint challenging the legal basis of the Panel’s motion.”
But others have supported the Panel’s decision.
Sussex Liberal Democrats accused Mrs Bourne of ‘inflaming community tensions’, declaring she should ‘consider her position’ and ‘reflect upon the serious concerns raised about her judgement’.
Tracie Bangert, who is a member of the Panel and serves on Chichester District Council, said: “I am deeply committed to, and have a strong record on, cross-party working but I feel strongly that Katy Bourne’s conduct makes her position questionable, and undermines the police whose role is to prevent crime across all communities and protect the vulnerable.”
Mrs Bourne is the Conservative candidate to be the first Mayor of Sussex in 2028.
As well as joining the march, she has also urged the government to look into making asylum seekers wear electronic tags.
Josh Babarinde, MP for Eastbourne, said the county was being ‘let down by a Police and Crime Commissioner who seems more concerned about campaigning for her next job than fixing a policing system that the last Conservative Government dismantled’.
Mrs Bourne said she had been surprised by what she called ‘a coordinated personal attack on my integrity’ by some Panel members.
She added: “My role is to be the voice of the public in policing and I will continue to discharge my responsibilities without fear or favour.
“The residents of Crowborough will have been very disappointed to see Panel members dismiss their genuine concerns and the confused attempt to portray my efforts as fuelling community tensions.”
Adrian Moss, leader of Chichester District Council, said that councils and councillors had been urged by police not to speak out about the situation in Crowborough, whether for or against, due to concerns about ‘the potential for protests to escalate beyond intimidation into communal violence’.
He added: “That Katy Bourne was a candidate to be Sussex Mayor is irrelevant. She did not make clear the capacity in which she was acting. In any case, she was and still is the Police and Crime Commissioner and she should be expected to align her conduct with, not undermine, the police service she oversees.”
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