Freemasons’ legal challenge attempt against Met fails | Freemasons

Freemasons have failed in their attempt to launch a legal challenge against Britain’s largest police force over its decision to force its staff to reveal whether they are members.

His Honor Judge Chamberlain said on Tuesday that the Metropolitan police decision “served a legitimate purpose, maintained and increased public confidence in the police and was proportionate”.

Three bodies representing Freemasons in England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as well as two police officers who are Freemasons, have sought to take legal action against the force in the high court.

This comes after the Met announced in December that membership of Freemasons or similar organizations would be added to its declarable associations policy.

This means officers and staff must declare “past or present” membership in any organization that “has hierarchical, confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other.”

Around 400 Met officers and staff have already made declarations under the policy.

In his 17-page ruling on Tuesday, Chamberlain said the grounds for the proposed legal challenge were not “reasonably arguable”.

He said: “The purpose of such action, and therefore the purpose of the obligation to disclose information, is to eliminate the potential for actual bias where officers are performing their duties improperly and the potential for perceived bias where there is a perception or suspicion that officers are performing their duties improperly.”

‘In either case, in my judgment this requirement is designed to ensure the proper discharge of a police officer’s duties.’ “It cannot reasonably be argued otherwise.”

The judge added that the policy was not discriminatory or “overly stigmatizing” against Freemasons.

He added that “temporarily” leaving the decision of whether to declare membership of the Freemasons to individual officers and staff “will not achieve the purpose of maintaining or increasing public confidence”.

Following the verdict, Commander Simon Messinger said on behalf of the Met: “We were prepared to defend our decision vigorously through the courts, so today’s verdict is welcome.

“Our reportable associations policy has been changed following feedback highlighting concerns that participation in such organizations could compromise impartiality or create conflicts of loyalty.

“Both victims of crime and those reporting crimes need to have trust and confidence that such matters do not risk tainting investigations.

“We prioritized that over any organization’s desire to maintain privacy.”

At the hearing on February 11, lawyers for the two officers, the United Grand Lodge of England, the Order of Female Masons and the Honorable Fraternity of Former Masons asked the judge to allow the appeal.

Claire Darwin KC, for the plaintiffs, said the Met’s decision allowed it to create a “blacklist”.

In written submissions, the lawyer said the move was an “institutional signal of suspicion” that violated the human rights of Freemasons and was based on “limited, opaque and largely perception-based” evidence.

He said the police relied on “long-standing conspiracy theories and/or preconceived tropes about Freemasons” as their justification for implementing this measure.

Met lawyers said the claim should be rejected, telling the court that the blacklisting of suggestion officers was “manifestly wrong” and that employees were “free to become or remain Freemasons”.