It was one of the most striking--and infuriating--images of the week. Police Superintendent James Sutherland, patrolling around his patch of Cambridgeshire wearing a garish rainbow helmet in the name of International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
It got me thinking; I wonder when the cops will have a National Day of Actually Investigating Crime Instead of Virtue Signalling for the Internet Day?
The image seemed to sum up a bad couple of weeks for British cops. A week in which they have been pulled in every direction by the fashionable politics of the day, and away from what they are good at--tackling real crime.
A pro-LGBT demonstrator holds a rainbow flag with an anti-fascist symbol as Polish nationalists gather to protest against what they call "LGBT aggression" on Polish society, in Warsaw, Poland
Agencja Gazeta
Numerous forces have rolled out trendy so-call “modern workplace” policies, the Telegraph reported yesterday, allowing cops to investigated rapes a murders at home. Really? We also learnt that, after promising not to investigate historic lockdown breaches, the Met have spent a whopping £460,000 probing partygate. Meanwhile a lady who "nudged" an Extinction Rebellion protester who lay in front of her car, preventing her child from getting to school, criticised the police for "double standards" after receiving a fine and a driving ban.
“It’s the police that have pushed this. They are really going for this," working mum Sherrilyn Speid said, adding: "I think it’s double standards. We drivers [who were delayed by the protests] all called the police and they did not come.”
I think she has a point. Instead of doing the work of eco extremists, BLM, or the LGBT lobby, a police officer should do the job of a police officer.
How many of us have been utterly perplexed by the sight of these clown-like patrol cars embellished in colours of the rainbow to raise awareness for the LGBT community that purport to "give confidence to our LGBT+ community" and other "under-represented" groups. Or cops dancing with Extinction Rebellion as they block roads or kneeling with BLM lockdown-breachers?
I tell you what would give confidence to every taxpayer in Britain: the police being able to do their jobs (in a police station not at home), serving all of the British public, gay, straight, black, white, trans. Whatever.
Do BLM, Extinction Rebellion, and members of the LGBTQ+ rainbow-clad alphabet soup not own houses at risk of burglary? Do they not own cars? Do they not hold mobile phones? If so, I’m pretty sure that, just like everybody else, they wish the police were able to get on investigating those crimes.
Home Office data, released last month, shows us that a tiny 4.2 per cent of theft offences and 6.6 per cent of robberies resulted in a charge. In fact, a record low of just 5.8% of crimes are getting solved. But don’t worry, folks, at least the police are decorating their helmets and writing lovely Twitter-friendly messages on their motors whilst some wrong’ un is nicking the stuff you worked hard to buy.
And look, folks, I’m a big supporter of our bobbies on the beat; they work hard, they’re paid too little and sometimes asked to do too much with precious little protection. But I’m afraid this focus on minority groups, tackling offensive speech online, and recording these non-crime hate incidents that go hand in hand with adopting the rainbow into everyday policing. They all transform policing into an office job, even folks, into working from home jobs.
Nick Potts
I’m one of those with a non-crime hate incident against my name for causing offence online; some police officer, instead of investigating an actual crime, will have been left recording my non-crime for offending somebody on Twitter. It’s utterly cartoon. It’s taking the Michael out of the taxpayer.
But maybe folks, just perhaps, the upper echelons of our Police forces are getting the message? Her Majesty’s New Chief Inspector of Constabulary has said last week that our cops are not “the thought police” and should focus on dealing with actual offences and keeping the public safe.
Andy Cook told The Times: "We follow legislation, and we follow the law, simple as that. Policing is busy enough dealing with the serious offences that are going on, busy enough trying to keep people safe."
Hear, hear, Andy!!! But actions speak louder than words. It's time for real change.
The police ought to be told that identity politics isn’t for them. Why, oh why, would any hardened criminal take British policing seriously when their priorities are to paint anything they can in rainbow colours. What’s next, handcuffs with the trans flag? We don’t allow the armed forces to ramble about the world draped in rainbow colours like an armed-to-the-teeth clown. Why should our police force be any different?
Let’s get our bobbies on the beat back on our streets, off our tweets and delete the police’s politicised retreat.
