Home Secretary Suella Braverman condemns police over trans ‘hate crime’ poster saying they are ‘undermining’ confidence in force by spending ‘vital resources on politically correct campaigns’
- Leicestershire Police tweeted image of trans person talking about ‘deadnaming’
- Force encouraged trans people to make a report about incidents as a ‘hate crime’
- Suella Braverman said police forces were confused over meaning of ‘hate crime’
- She also accused forces of ‘undermining confidence’ in policing with Tweets
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has today challenged a police force over a trans ‘hate crime’ poster encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’.
The poster, shared out by Leicestershire Police, encourages people who are transgender to make a report when people purposely use their previous name.
It shows what has been described by the force as a ‘stock image’ of a trans woman accompanied by a quote made up by an ‘experienced’ officer with ‘significant knowledge’ of incidents of hate crime.
The Tweet has since been deleted. But responding to it, Ms Braverman a qualified barrister, said she believed police forces were ‘confused’ over what constitutes a ‘hate crime’.
Ms Braverman also accused the force of ‘undermining’ confidence’ in policing by spending resources on ‘politically correct’ campaigns – saying officers should be ‘fighting actual crimes’.
And in a veiled threat, the Tory minister said senior officers who sanction such campaigns will have to personally explain them to her.
Sharing Leicestershire Police’s Tweet, she said: ‘This week I have seen confusion amongst police forces about what constitutes a ‘hate crime’.
‘The police need to enforce actual laws and fight actual crimes. Freedom of speech must be protected and a proportionate approach must be taken.
New Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured arriving at Downing Street on Monday) has today challenged a police force over a trans ‘hate crime’ poster encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’
The poster (pictured), by Leicestershire Police, encourages trans people to make a report when people purposely use their previous name
Responding to the force’s Tweet (pictured: The Tweet by Ms Braverman), the cabinet minister said she believed police forces were ‘confused’ over what constitutes a ‘hate crime’
‘The public need to have confidence in their police forces. This sort of thing undermines it.
‘Senior police officers who allow this to happen can expect to have to explain to me why they’re spending vital resources on politically correct campaigns.’
What is a hate crime in England and Wales?
According to the Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS), any crime can be prosecuted as a hate crime if there’s evidence that the offender demonstrated or was motivated by hostility towards a person’s race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.
In England and Wales, the law recognises five types of hate crime on the basis of, race, religion, disability sexual orientation and transgender identity.
There is no legal definition of hostility so the CPS use the everyday understanding of the word which includes ill-will, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment and dislike.
It comes after Leicestershire Police’s Stay Safe Twitter account, which is shared between the force’s Crime Reduction Officers and its Hate Crime Officers, shared an image encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’.
Deadnaming is the act of referring to a transgender person by the name they previously used before they transitioned into another gender.
In the Tweet, the account said: ‘You can report #HateCrime via Stamp It Out.’
The Tweet then shared an image of a transgender person, named Jane, 57, from Hinkley, who said: ‘I get called my previous male name on purpose, but that’s not who I am.
‘It can be really hurtful, especially when it’s just seen as a joke.’
The Tweet has since been deleted by Leicestershire Police, following Ms Braverman’s comments.
The force also said the image of the person pictured in the poster was a ‘stock images obtained by the team’ and that the words had been provided by an ‘experienced police staff member who has significant knowledge of the different types of hate crime people can be and have been subjected to’.
Responding to the criticism, Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon said: ‘Having examined the posts I believe we as a force should have made clear that the images were stock images and that the names given were fictitious for illustration purposes.
‘For completeness, I am also having a scenario presented checked against current national hate crime recording policy.’
There are no specific homophobic, biphobic or transphobic hate crimes in UK law.
It comes after Leicestershire Police’s Stay Safe Twitter account, which is shared between the force’s Crime Reduction Officers and its Hate Crime Officers, shared an image encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’
But any criminal offence can be judged a hate crime if it is proved that a person committed an offence because of prejudice or hostility to LGBT people.
A court will need evidence that the offender did show prejudice, malice and ill will, for example, because of what was said.
IN FULL: Leicestershire Police’s response to criticism of ‘hate crime’ poster
Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon said: ‘Over the past week, a number of social media posts were issued on our Leicestershire Police Stay Safe account aiming to raise awareness of hate crime. This was as part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week.
‘While we recognise that people have strong and often conflicting views regarding this issue, we should not forget the seriousness of hate crime and the devastating crimes that as a country we have seen in the past which have happened as a result of hate crime.
‘Hate crimes are acts of violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are. Hate crime law in England and Wales have developed in various phases over the past two decades and the law recognises five protected characteristics; race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.
‘As a force, like all other forces, our priority is to prevent and detect crime. This includes raising awareness of different crimes, the impact these crimes can have and informing where victims of these crimes can report the offence and access support. Hate crime laws have been introduced following tragic incidents and are part of legislation. It is vitally important that we raise awareness of hate crime and work together to stop it from happening.
‘We are however aware that during our hate crime awareness campaign there have been a significant number of comments relating to some of the posts. I am sorry that our posts may have caused some upset. I know that was not the intention of our communications team who I know are committed to helping the force to prevent and detect crime and to raise awareness.
‘To clarify in relation to the posts, the images used were stock images obtained by the team. The source of those images had been considered to be reliable and the words on the posts were provided by an experienced police staff member who has significant knowledge of the different types of hate crime people can be and have been subjected to.
‘Having examined the posts I believe we as a force should have made clear that the images were stock images and that the names given were fictitious for illustration purposes. For completeness, I am also having a scenario presented checked against current national hate crime recording policy.
‘As a result, we have now removed the posts and will be reviewing how we use stock images and raise awareness of hate crime going forward. However, I do ask that people please remember the importance of the message which the posts related to – that hate crime is impactive and an offence and together we should be working to ‘Stamp it Out’.
‘If you are a victim of hate crime, we urge you to report it to us. You can visit How to report hate crime | Leicestershire Police (leics.police.uk) for more information on hate crime and how to report it to us.
‘Finally, by way of some context I would like to share with you that our force communications work does consistently cover a whole range of subjects with the sole aim of informing the communities of what we are doing in an attempt to prevent and detect crime .
‘As an example, last week, as well as our hate crime awareness posts, we issued posts about our drug enforcement work and county lines being dismantled during County Lines Intensification Week as well as our ongoing policing operation in East Leicester and ensuring that Diwali celebrations could continue safely. This was in addition to public appeals in relation to other offences as well as updates regarding arrests and charges made and convictions in court following dedicated police investigations.’
According to CPS, hate crimes are an incident or criminal offence which is ‘perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation’.
It can also be any incident or criminal offence which is ‘perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender’.
Cases where it is proved that an offence was committed or motivated by prejudice can result in an uplift in a person’s sentence.
It comes after Ms Braverman, who took over as Home Secretary from Priti Patel last month, also took police to task over their dealings with climate change and vegan activists.
Ms Braverman labelled the climate activists, who have been behind a number of high-profile demonstrations in recent weeks, ‘so-called protesters’ and added that ‘democracies reach decisions in a civilised manner.’
She also lambasted the protesters for their ‘imagined right to bully’ the rest of the public, adding: ‘Who do they think they are?’
Her criticism wasn’t just reserved for the activists themselves, she also issued a stark warning to the police: ‘I also expect the Metropolitan Police to do a better job of cracking down on these thugs and vandals – as does the public.’
It followed a 15th successive day of protests by Just Stop Oil, who blocked roads in central London again today, and more protests by vegan activists Animal Rebellion which included pouring milk on the floor and meat counters in luxury shops such as Fortnum and Mason.
Referring to activists such as those from Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain, she said protesters who glue themselves to the road are ‘wildy irresponsible, idiotic, and risking lives.’
She threatened future ‘serious penalties in order to deter public disorder’ in her article in The Mail On Sunday.
Her comments come ahead of the Public Order Bill returning to Parliament this week, which the government is hoping will strengthen officers’ powers to deal with protesters more quickly. Proposed measures include more stop and search powers to enable police to look for items such as superglue.
The Public Order Bill is a major piece of legislation which will introduce a raft of new measures aimed at curbing protests.
Accusing protesters of draining police resources, Ms Braverman will use the bill to allow secretaries of state to apply for injunctions in the ‘public interest’ where protests are causing or threatening ‘serious disruption or a serious adverse impact on public safety’.
According to the Home Office, this will include protecting access to ‘essential’ goods, services and key infrastructure.
Ms Braverman said: ‘I will not bend to protestors attempting to hold the British public to ransom. ‘Preventing our emergency services from reaching those who desperately need them is indefensible, hideously selfish and in no way in the public interest.
‘This serious and dangerous disruption, let alone the vandalism, is not a freedom of expression, nor a human right. It must stop.’
The Home Office said the proposed public order legislation would create a new criminal offence of interfering with infrastructure such as oil refineries, airports, railways and printing presses. Such an offence would carry a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.
‘Locking on’ or ‘going equipped to lock-on’ to other people, objects or buildings to cause ‘serious disruption’ could see people imprisoned for six months or hit with an unlimited fine.
A new criminal office of tunnelling to cause serious disruption is also being created, which will carry a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment as well as the potential for an unlimited fine. An offence of going equipped to tunnel will also be created.
The Public Order Bill will return to Parliament next week and Ms Braverman said it is ‘high time’ MPs back it. ‘The police need strengthened and tougher powers to match the rise in self-defeating protest tactics and that’s what the Public Order Bill will do.
‘It’s high time Parliament got behind it and put the law-abiding majority first.’
The Home Office is also promising that stop-and-search measures and new serious disruption prevention orders will support the police, with the latter targeting those repeatedly convicted of protest-related offences.
Suella Braverman is set to restrict number of foreign students who can stay in UK after finishing their studies
By Oliver Price for MailOnline
The Home Secretary is set to restrict the total number of foreign students who can remain living in the UK after graduating from university to slash immigration numbers.
Suella Braverman, who was appointed to the role by Prime Minister Liz Truss, has committed to cut immigration and ‘substantially reduce’ the number of unskilled foreign workers coming to Britain, from 239,000 to the ‘tens of thousands’.
But she also wants to reduce the numbers of international students who can apply for a graduate post-study work visa, which allows any student who has passed their degree to remain and work in the UK for at least two years.
The Home Office are considering restricting visa applications only to those who have completed studied in high-demand subject areas, such as engineering, the Times reports.
But university bosses have slammed the Home Secretary’s plan, saying it sent a message ‘that the UK is unwelcoming and hostile to international students’ who make bring £25.9 billion per year to the UK economy through fees and spending.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) is set to restrict the total number of foreign students who can remain living in the UK after graduating from university to slash immigration numbers
Graduate visas were reintroduced in July last year after then-Home Secretary Theresa May scrapped them in 2012, reducing the length of time recent graduates can stay in the country to just four months.
Since the new scheme was introduced, 66,211 international students have been granted the right to remain in the UK – 99 per cent of a total 66,787 applications.
Nearly half of all granted visas were given to Indian nationals, at a total of 28,331 (43 per cent), 7,771 (12 per cent) were granted to Nigerian students, and 6,599 (10 per cent) were granted to Chinese graduates.
Indian students are also the largest group of migrants to overstay their visas. Ms Braverman has said she wants to reduce the number of foreign students studying at British universities after a record high of 486,000 visas were granted last year.
An open letter to Ms Braverman signed by the chief executives of four groups which represent over 150 British universities – Universities UK , GuildHE, MillionPlus and University Alliance – have been heavily criticised her proposals.
They said that international students are the source of nearly 70 per cent of the UK’s education export earnings and bring an average financial benefits of £390 per person across the country – saying that increased international student numbers were a ‘resounding success for the government and something to be celebrated’.
‘The negative rhetoric suggesting a need to reduce international student numbers is unhelpful and counterproductive,’ the letter to the Home Secretary said.
‘It stands to directly impact on the continued success of one of the UK’s premier export industries and restrict economic growth.
‘Such rhetoric is also quickly reported on around the world, sending a message overseas that the UK is unwelcoming and hostile to international students.
‘That is why we would urge the government to restate its commitment to the ambitions set out in the International Education Strategy and to avoid language that suggests international students and their dependants may be unwelcome in the UK.’
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