Dudley Council leader: 'Wokey woke' police official 'wasting cash with farcical complaint'
The leader of Dudley Council has hit out at "wokey woke" police officials for "wasting taxpayers' money" on a complaint about his behaviour.
Councillor Patrick Harley has been ordered to appear before the authority's standards committee after an investigation found he had made "disrespectful, unwarranted and inappropriate" remarks about a senior police officer.
Council chiefs launched the independent probe following a complaint from the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner's office.
It relates to an incident last year when Mr Harley called for Dudley police commander Kim Madill to be reassigned after she refused to move on travellers for 'human rights' reasons.
Conservative leader Mr Harley said of the June 20 meeting, which will determine whether he breached the members' code of conduct: "I plan to have the time of my life."
He has vowed to stand by his comments and said the complaint was a "political stunt" by Labour PCC Simon Foster and his team.
Mr Harley said: "It is an absolute farce that they are wasting taxpayers' money on this.
"As a council we require senior police officers to adhere to the agreed protocol and for around a week or so they didn't.
"This particular senior officer basically said the protocol didn't matter and was more concerned with the human rights of the traveller families than she was about the human rights of residents.
"This is in no way a criticism of rank and file bobbies. It is about those at the top changing policies to suit their own political agenda.
"The whole complaint is a political stunt by a Labour Police and Crime Commissioner and his wokey woke office staff."
Last November Mr Harley criticised Chief Superintendent Madill over her decision not to move on a group of travellers who had stayed beyond the 28 days permitted at the Budden Road transit site in Coseley.
He accused her of letting her "political feelings" cloud her judgment and called for her to be reassigned away from Dudley.
In the complaint, which was upheld by the investigation, the PCC's office questioned whether Mr Harley's comments were "abusive".
It called for him to publicly apologise to Ch Supt Madill – who has since changed roles – and withdraw his comments.
Mr Harley said relations with the police had improved since the row and were now "absolutely golden".
A spokesperson for the PCC's office said: "An independent investigation commissioned by his own council concluded that Councillor Harley’s remarks about a senior police officer were ‘disrespectful, unwarranted and inappropriate, and gave rise to a breach of the Code of Conduct’.
"We welcome the standards sub-committee’s consideration of this misconduct."
