'Out of touch!' Essex Police chief faces backlash over 'shocking' Allison Pearson probe

Pearson was subjected to a visit from officers on Remembrance Sunday over "an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online".

She is now being investigated under Section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 over a deleted social media post allegedly "likely or intended to cause racial hatred".

Hirst said he could not comment on the case because it was under investigation by the force - for which he has responsibility.

He told LBC: "I have no view whatsoever on the issue of guilt, but it is my job to make sure that the police act even-handedly and we will have no two-tier policing in Essex.

"Everyone's equal under the law and if there is a complaint made, then the police are duty bound to investigate it.

"I have to say, you know, it's fairly evident, isn't it really, that it’s not been treated as a high priority. It's taken a year to actually go and knock on the door. But nevertheless, this is something which has to be dealt with by due process.

"We can't go around ignoring crimes just because it's politically sensitive. And we perhaps need to just think about how our black and Asian communities are hearing this debate."

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But his comments have been met with condemnation.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "He is out of touch in every way. People in Essex speak their mind and believe others have the right to do so... Their real worry is the rise in serious crime."

Meanwhile, the populist party's deputy leader Richard Tice warned: "Roger is the kind of wet woke Tory that we at Reform UK look forward to removing at the next PCC election!"

Free Speech Union chief Toby Young also said it "may shock" residents to learn that Hirst was a Conservative.

He added: "You would have thought the fact that NCHIs [non-crime hate incidents] have been recorded against so many senior Conservative politicians, including an ex-Home Secretary, a former vice-chairman of the party and the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, would be a wake-up call.

"But apparently not. I guess we'll have to wait until Roger Hirst has an NCHI recorded against him for the penny to finally drop."

Meanwhile ex-Tory minister Zac Goldsmith said: "The people of Essex elected a Conservative police commissioner in good faith to sort out crime in their area.

"Most of them would have simply ticked the blue box assuming it meant a focus on actual crime.

"They ended up with someone in charge who thinks it was right for officers to police the (non-criminal) thoughts of journalists.

"It shows that even on the most obvious issues of judgment, the Conservative Party - my party - is just guaranteed to let people down.

"Kemi Badenoch has good instincts and is brave. But she needs to wake the party from its coma fast or it will rightly face extinction."