‘RIGHT TO DEFEND ACT 2023’- A CALL FOR POLICE and GOVERNMENT REFORM PETITION for ALL VICTIMS

The right to defend ourselves, to protect ourselves and our loved ones, is a fundamental human right, one that should never be denied or taken away.  And it starts with proper, factual and efficient policing. Unfortunately, this is currently not happening, and it is time for change.  

Police are failing to do proper investigations intentionally and therefore perverting the course of justice.  There are many cases where it has been proven where they failed to obtain evidence intentionally, withheld evidence and/or were guilty of engaging in the crime themselves.

I, as a victim of multiple crimes by members of the public and even police officers, am deeply concerned about the lack of proper investigations by police for all victims as well as the lack of protection and justice for individuals, both men and women, who find themselves victims and/or wrongfully accused. This mission aims to bring attention to this critical endemic issue and advocate for necessary reforms within the law enforcement system.  An introduction to a police watchdog group along with the assistance of new technology to help provide evidence are creative options being considered to aid and assist in police reform.

Proper, fair and impartial investigations are a basic human right for everyone and police should not be given authoritative power without accountability.  Without it, police act as judge and jury choosing not to enforce laws when they should. Victims are often left without recourse and justice or even worse, made into the suspect themselves.  For example, where police officers themselves have been caught lying as recently revealed in the Netflix documentary 'Victim/Suspect' or in my case where false allegations were used as a hate crime. 

The Right to Defend Act 2023 is a petition for police and government reform. It outlines many areas that need to be addressed and proposes a police watchdog group. Once the Act has been approved by the office of Petitions, it will be submitted for signatures and then hopefully, with your support, it will reach Parliament for debate.

MISSION:  Police reform by implementing a police watchdog group that gives full and proper police accountability so that investigations are done without fear or favour.  

The right to defend should be available at every junction of the judicial process.  It allows the defendant to be informed of the accusations being made within a reasonable timeframe whilst also allowing evidence to be submitted during the initial investigation process or at any time during the judicial, complaint or appeal process, of which said evidence which must be considered in the full context of the case. It acts not only to prevent false accusations from ‘snowballing’ and causing unnecessary suffering in an innocent defendant’s life from mental and emotional strife but also from financial hardship in having to acquire costly legal representation when evidence was at the ready during the initial stages of the allegation. It also serves to hold the police to account by allowing a truly independent investigative body to review the evidence if necessary. This Act also serves to relieve an already overly burdened system from undue processing by following the rules of proportionality.  By allowing the defendant to provide evidence serves as an ‘in proportion’ act already implemented within the policing national guidelines.

WHAT IS A ‘SPECIMEN’ CASE:  A ‘specimen’ case is a case that can provide irrefutable evidence against the allegations being asserted and that these allegations have and continue to cause suffering not by just one person but by many.  It serves to pioneer and champion change based on overwhelming evidence.  It proves there exists widespread endemic criminal actions committed by the police and miscarriages of justice regularly during judicial processes throughout the whole of the UK affecting a great multitude of people adversely. 

MY STORY:  I came to the UK for postgraduate studies as a legal immigrant.  After I was unknowingly falsely accused in 2018, I started being followed, harassed, experienced hateful incidents for weeks until finally a man calling himself the ‘landlord’ tried breaking into my legal residence in the middle of the night.  Just to note, my legal landlords were females.  When I called the police, they covered for the perpetrator and acted criminally themselves by trying to get me to leave with them. They logged it as an incident. I barricaded myself in until I knew it was safe and that I could finally move to a new location.  During that time, I had no idea why all of it was happening.  It was a terrifying experience.  But it did not end, and I continued to experience harassment and stalking behaviour for over three years after I had left. This greatly affected my ability to continue my studies and later I was diagnosed with PTSD.  Although I filed a complaint with the Professional Standards Department (PSD) shortly after I moved, I later learned the investigating officer was the same acting sergeant during the night of the attempted break-in and subsequently lied on the complaint response form stating he could not contact me to go over the complaint.  At no point was I given a chance to defend myself.  He buried it and to this day PSD refuses to re-open my case and refuses to refer to the Independent Office of Police Conduct. 

It wasn’t until I hired my private investigator in 2019 that I learned I had been the victim of false allegations.  With his expertise, we acquired an overwhelming amount of evidence proving the ‘snowball’ type of devastation that false allegations can create along with exposing the abuse of power police officers exercise at their will compounding the corruption of the ‘judicial’ foundation that currently exists in the UK.

However, being that I am an anthropologist and ethnographer, with my father being a retired compliance officer and U.S. Attorney advisor, my uncle being a retired Federal Judge appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and my ex being a high-ranking state police officer, I understood the importance of evidence.  So, I recorded approximately 90% of the events involved in my case spanning over a five-year period.  And with the help of my private investigator who specialises in miscarriages of justice, my case proves with certainty police officers lie to members of the public, falsify documents, choose whom to believe at their own discretion rather than thoroughly investigate and even at times actively participate in crimes. This is not policing. The police need to be held to account at every stage and a new system established so that there is a true and balanced judicial system; one with the utmost integrity.  They, along with the government, need to be reminded you pay their salaries.  They work for you.  And having a just and impartial judicial system without fear or favour is the foundation to a peaceful and productive society; one that must be upheld at all costs.

MY CASE IS OUR CASE.

PETITION for the RIGHT TO DEFEND ACT 2023 will include the following:

1.    Police officers must be trained to investigate complaints with an open mind, understanding that a complaint may be genuine or false, and that the accused may be guilty or innocent.  Police must stop training 'presumption of guilt' rules High Court Judge.

2.    Policing national guidelines and the college of policing should no longer endorse ‘believe the complainant’ practices. 

3.    Professional Standards established within the policing headquarters be abolished and a national agency be established completely independent of county constabularies so that a truly independent investigation is conducted outside of the constabulary insuring impartiality.  

4.    Offenses occurring in different constabularies against the same victim should be considered as one case, so context and time reference is not lost.  If a crime has been committed or suspected to have been committed, information must be obtained by police regardless of if the crime or potential crime was committed in their constabulary or not. 

5.    Anyone found guilty of using false allegations against legal immigrants will be charged with a hate crime.  This will include the use of hostile environment practices.

6.    Any officers found to prevent evidence from being submitted or having falsified reports, or engaged in a crime, are to be sacked and prosecuted without delay.  

7.    Anyone found to have made false allegations will have at least one-year prison sentence, £10,000 fine or three years community service at the minimum.  The stricter the consequences, the less likely false allegations/accusations will occur.  I believe that it has become common knowledge the police ‘believe the complainant’ and that that knowledge is now being abused by people in the know. 

8.    All police websites must allow for the submission of evidence online in association with a crime or incident number. 

9.    Policing should always be impartial, and this must be consistently enforced.  There is a history of certain organisations that continue to act with impartiality and new legislation must be enacted to ensure this does not continue and should there exist members who are police officers, then their names be made available to the public. https://www.shropshiremasons.org.uk/craft-lodges/west-mercia-lodge

10.    Officers’ names in complaints should be coded to ensure impartiality prior to the investigative complaints process by a separate GDPR organisation.  

THE PETITION PROCESS:  It is important to understand the petitions process.  For the petition to be recognised by Parliament, it must first be submitted to the office of Petitions (https://petition.parliament.uk/), where it will then be edited.  This will be a back-and-forth process and we expect that it could take a few weeks to achieve the final draft.  However, it is important to keep raising awareness during this time period as petitions have only six months to garner 10,000 signatures in order to get a response from the government or 100,000 signatures for it to be openly debated in Parliament once it becomes live and available to sign.  Our goal is to obtain the 100,000 signatures required for a Parliamentary debate.  

The Right to Defend Act 2023 is currently in its draft form; it is a work in progress. We are open for suggestions and if you have experience writing petitions and/or a legal professional who is willing to help, we encourage you to email us at [email protected].

RAISING AWARENESS by:

Contacting your MP:

A sample letter/email can be provided so that you can start making your local MP aware of the Right to Defend Act 2023 Petition right away.  Simply email us at [email protected] and in the Subject Line type: Send Sample.  We aim to reply to you with a sample letter/email within 24-48 hours. 

-    Click for information on how to 'Contact you local MP'.

-    Click to 'Find my local MP'.

Change.org:

We will also be using Change.org to help garner attention but signing the petition on Change.org does not count towards to the actual Right to Defend Act 2023 Petition; it must be signed via the office of Petitions once it is available.  This will help us see how many people are becoming more aware of the petition and help gauge the right time to launch with the office of Petitions.  Go to Chang.org to sign.

'Multiplier'- how you can create a fundraiser to support this one:

The ‘Multiplier’ has been offered on this campaign.  It allows our supporters to fundraise on our behalf, sending the money directly to our campaign.  We would be delighted to work with you on this campaign should you be inspired to do so.  For more information about ‘Multiplier’, click here:  https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/programmes/multiply-your-crowdfunder

FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY CAMPAIGNING FOR THIS CAUSE:  There are several organisations and individuals who have been fighting this same cause.  To support and network with one another, I would like to be able to publicly list those here and, on our website once it becomes available, along with a brief explanation of your specific role.  This can help us to know who else is out there and band together to make the change we all desire.  In the Subject line please use:  NETWORK: your organisation or name. 

I would also strongly encourage anyone looking into establishing an organisation related to this matter to seek out grants.  Often, there are many available such as https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/under10k.  A call to your Citizens Advice Bureau or your local council can help lead you to other local grants you may qualify for.  

FOR OTHER VICTIMS:  Please contact us via email at [email protected] and let me know your story.  You can remain anonymous if you choose.  In the Subject line please use:  VICTIM: your name or anonymous.  The more information we have; the better chance we can prove to a court that this problem is strongly endemic within the UK.  

MEDIA:  I strongly encourage any MEDIA attention. I am also happy to speak with any media albeit with final discretion by my solicitors and barristers.  The more attention we have, the more awareness creating a stronger chance for the petition to reach 100,000 signatures and therefore acknowledged by Parliament.  

SOCIAL MEDIA:  Engage in dialogue on our Facebook Page.  Or, on Twitter.

HOW WILL THE FUNDS BE USED:

1.    Solicitors (SAS Daniels)/Barristers (7Harrington St Chambers) – initially, this will be where the majority of the funds will be allotted, and we anticipate an initial billing fee of approximately £4000. Should a judicial review be required, we estimate the fees to increase to at least £20,000.  

2.    Any ongoing investigative work as when necessary.

3.    Funding for other cases – In anticipation of others sharing their stories and cases, we would like to use any remaining funds and to use monthly donations to help others fund their ‘right to defend’ themselves.  Eventually, we hope this is where the most of continued contributions will be distributed.

QUESTIONS:

Email us at:  [email protected]