According to The Times:
Her Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary (Winsor), told senior police that “it is not illegal to think anything” and that they must not “declare something that is not a crime to be a crime”.
He warned that, at the same time, officers were still failing to turn up to serious crime reports such as domestic abuse. Some police forces are treating reports of misogyny and transphobia as hate crimes.
Sue Fish, chief constable of Nottinghamshire before she retired in 2017, was the first to expand the definition of hate crime to include misogyny in 2014.
In an effort to tackle sexist abuse the Nottinghamshire force said that street harassment, including catcalling or wolf-whistling, could be reported to the police and investigated.
Winsor wrote in the watchdog’s annual State of Policing report: “It is not appropriate for senior police officers, serving or retired, to assert a right of the police to declare anything criminal, least of all what people may think.
They have no legal power to create criminal offences in their police areas or anywhere else. It is important that no one is misled: the police enforce the law, they do not make it.”
He said that “hating someone or something is not criminal”, although it would be an aggravating factor in sentencing if such hatred resulted in a crime such as an assault.
Winsor is 64. He’s leaving his role as chief inspector of constabulary later this year. He has held the position for a decade. His remarks in the State of Policing report are valedictory.
This morning, he appeared on LBC Radio. He reiterated his position that the police should never police thoughts or opinions and told the presenter, Nick Ferrari, that police shouldn’t wear gay pride badges, take the knee in support of Black Lives Matter or show support for Ukraine either.
Shame he’s leaving.
