Police blogger faces disciplinary hearing

A policeman who was suspended from duty after launching an internet blog is to face a disciplinary hearing, his latest online entry reveals.

P.c. Allan Palmer tells visitors to his Crushing Fools website that he was served with a charge sheet on Tuesday containing six charges for an "internal trial" by Bermuda Police Service (BPS).
Five days before, he says, his bosses served him with papers ordering him to take down posts and not publish any more about the Police on his blog.

"These charges will give me an opportunity to vindicate myself and test the way the Bermuda Police Service does business in the future," he writes.

"It is strange that everyone is of the opinion that this whole trial was concocted or was rigged and even if I present a winning case I will be found guilty."

The father-of-three fell foul of his superiors after launching his online journal at the end of last year. The Royal Gazette reported on the site after he wrote a message urging the community to unite against violence.

His next post on January 23 was titled An Abuse of Power — Stepping Back into the Stone Age of Policing and claimed that "ambitious people" within the police service were trying to silence officers like him. He was suspended on full pay soon after.

The January 23 entry has been removed from the site but subsequent posts has been made.
His post this week does not detail the six charges. It reads in part: "It has been almost four months since I was suspended from the Bermuda Police Service and during this time, Bermuda Police Service seems to be dragging their feet in having my matter processed speedily."

He goes on: "Now I am very much satisfied that I am going to have my day at a trial."

He claims the orders to remove posts from his blog and an advert promoting the website on the back of his car are an attempt at censorship by BPS and in contravention of Bermuda's constitution and his right to freedom of expression.

P.c. Palmer told this newspaper he did not wish to comment and referred questions to his lawyer, who could not be contacted.

A BPS spokesman said: "The matter of P.c. Palmer is a subject of the Police Discipline Orders 1975 and, as such, no comment can be made at this time."