Police should stop “wasting time” investigating tweets just because someone claims to be offended, a senior police chief has said. The Telegraph has more.
Stephen Watson, chief constable of Greater Manchester, admitted police had been overzealous in recording trivial online spats and legitimate debate as hate incidents at the expense of tackling mainstream crimes.
“I do think that the balance has got somewhere out of kilter,” said Mr Watson, who last week revealed how his “back to basics” approach to crime-fighting had turned his failing force into the most improved in Britain.
“We’ve become too assiduous at interpreting some of the rules to mean that if anybody at any time for whatever reason is offended, there somehow needs to be a police record.
“We’ve got ourselves involved in stuff which is just not a policing matter, we’ve wasted our time as a result and we’ve caused people to question whether, frankly, we know what we’re doing.”
He added: “In certain circumstances, there are actually first-class examples of where we’ve just completely got this wrong.”
One case involved a Bedfordshire man who ended up with a police file for whistling the theme tune to Bob the Builder at his neighbour, who perceived racial hatred.
Earlier this year Harry Miller, a retired policeman who was visited by his local force after tweeting about transgender rights, won a battle over free speech with the College of Policing. The Court of Appeal ruled the guidance breached Mr Miller’s human rights.
Mr. Watson welcomed revised guidance by the College of Policing, the national standards body, as a “move in the right direction”. It has decreed that police officers should no longer investigate legitimate debate or treat trivial online spats as hate incidents.
The guidance, hailed as a victory for free speech, said people contributing to political and social debate must not be “stigmatised simply because someone is offended”.
Mr Watson warned that without changes, police credibility would be undermined. He said: “As with all things in life, there’s a careful calibration required, because I do understand why people will say: ‘Well, if it’s not a crime, then why are you bothering recording it, because surely that’s nothing to do with police?’”
He said he hoped officers could be empowered to apply their own common sense. “It is, I think, the function of leadership to give our people the confidence that it is still okay, from time to time to say to people: it’s just not a police matter, that is nonsense,” he said.
“That’s called being a grown-up in a democracy where we sometimes have vigorous discourse, and you just need to get with the programme or stop using social media. We need to encourage our people to have the confidence to do that.”
Worth reading in full.
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Couldn’t believe that vid of the young policeman slapping cuffs on someone for ‘Causing Anxiety’, seriously.
Marvellous. So what’s he doing about the Pakistani grooming gangs which are still visibly operating across his Policing area?
It looks like SFA.
Offence is taken, not given.
Or, as my lovely great aunt used to tell me,
“Sticks and stones may break my bones… but names?! They will never hurt me!”
She was the school secretary for decades at a secondary modern in Barton-upon-Humber. Never had children, but made a big, positive impact on many in her time. She would doubtless have been sacked these days, for saying it how it is and delivering a bit “toughen up, buttercup!”
There is a certain police
forceservice in my region that won’t arrest drug dealers dealing openly on the street on a housing estate where the council places vulnerable ex-addicts. The reason given: We can’t crack down on this area because that would show favouritism to one area over others and we don’t have the resources to tackle them all.That service: Greater Manchester Police.
Mr Watson should be judged by his actions, not his words.
The country has ‘gone to the dogs’. Nothing in this country is working as it should. The police are a joke chasing ‘hurty feelings’ rather than real crime. The government is a joke, they ignore the concerns of the electorate and follow the Agenda of the unelected WEF and WHO, the Judiciary is a joke for ignoring real law breakers and hounding those who stand up for our rights, the Health Service is a joke I’ve been waiting for a hospital appointment for 4 months and all I am told is ‘we can tell you it wont be this month’!
“He said he hoped officers could be empowered to apply their own common sense.”
Officer’s being allowed to use their ‘common sense’ is exactly the problem in the first place.
Anyone who is put into the unique position of being legally allowed to police anyone else needs concrete rules that if they break or overstep, they get a strike. Three strikes and they lose their job and lose their right to reapply.
Sadly it is bigger than this though, as long as we have ‘hate crime’ legislation we are all living in clown world.
A group of police officers turning up at your doorstep would be a likely source of anxiety. Perhaps they should form a circle and hand-cuff each other.
Woke policing in Colchester, Essex.
https://t.me/BerkshireFreedom/2256
This trio arrested people for holding Russian flags
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I applaud the views expressed by this Chief Constable and hope other forces can apply the same approach as his in Manchester. But wait a minute shouldn’t this be directed by our Home secretary? Someone who has proven to be useles at everything supposedly under her control, but clearly not. A more extreme example of incompetence in post can rarely be found. One good thing about our new government in early September is that she should surely be kicked out of any government position and replaced by someone who can do the job.