UK police waste time on tweets while real crimes need attention
Police officers show-up at writers homes to investigate social-media posts as hate-crimes. Former top officials speak-up against this practice saying cops should focus on real street crime
In a mind-boggling turn of events feminist writer Julie Bindel had two Scotland Yard officers at her door about five years ago investigating her tweet as a hate-crime (which came from a Dutch complainant who didnt like her views on gender issues)
The cops visit — which happened on a laid-back Sunday afternoon — mirrors a recent case of Allison Pearson who got police at her door-step on Remembrance Sunday. Both writers werent given specifics about their so-called offensive posts; this kind of police work raises eye-brows about free-speech limits
Former MP Tom Hunt shared his own run-in with hate-crime reporting: after writing about crime patterns in his city a Labour party member filed a complaint which got recorded as a non-crime hate incident. “Its become an absolute free-for-all“ he notes pointing out how anyone can file these reports from anywhere
Police have limited time to investigate actual crime but are instead being tasked with ticking off the likes of me
Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove and former home secretary Suella Braverman spoke against these investigations: they think police should focus on real threats like knife-crime and terrorism instead of monitoring social-media posts. Essex Police however defends its actions saying they must look into all reported possible offenses
