UK police arrest parents who criticized their child’s school in WhatsApp group

• Police in the U.K. arrested Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine in January after the couple criticized their child’s school in emails and a WhatsApp group. The school had alerted police to the couple’s communication, which was deemed upsetting.
• The parents, who had been banned from the school for questioning leadership appointments, continued to send emails regarding their disabled daughter’s education.
• After 11 hours in custody, police released the couple, later stating insufficient evidence for further action. The parents called the experience dystopian, as the allegations were never fully explained.

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Police in the United Kingdom arrested two parents who complained about their child’s school in an online chat group, according to reports.

Six officers went to Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine’s home in January after their daughter’s school alerted Hertfordshire police that the couple had sent multiple emails criticizing it and posted “disparaging” comments in a WhatsApp group, The Times British newspaper reports.

Allen, a radio producer for Times Radio, said police officers arrived at his house and detained the couple in front of their daughter. The two spent 11 hours at the police station — answering questions and being locked in a police cell.

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The parents said they were held on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property.

The couple told The Times they had been previously banned from entering their daughter’s school. They say they previously questioned the process for appointing new school leadership.

Allen and Levine said that despite being barred from school property, they continued to send emails to the school leadership because their daughter is registered as disabled. The couple said they needed to provide information about her medications and wanted to receive updates about her education.

The couple told The Times they found about 45 email threads between them and the school during the six months they were banned from the school property.

Speaking to The Times about his arrest, Allen said he was in complete disbelief: “It was just unfathomable to me that things had escalated to this degree,” he said.

Cowley Hill Primary School released a statement about the ordeal, saying: “We sought advice from the police following a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts from two parents, as this was becoming upsetting for staff, parents, and governors. We’re always happy for parents to raise concerns, but we do ask that they do this in a suitable way, and in line with the school’s published complaints procedure.”

Police arrested Allen and Levine on Jan. 29. After investigating, police released a statement saying, in part: “The arrests were necessary to fully investigate the allegations as is routine in these types of matters. Following further investigations, officers deemed that no further action should be taken due to insufficient evidence.”

The couple called the ordeal dystopian, saying the allegations against them were never properly explained.