In June 2020, an anonymous Twitter account boasted (see below) that Sarah now had a “record for life” as the result of allegedly hateful tweets. Sarah contacted her local force, Wiltshire Police, who confirmed that twelve pages of tweets had been recorded as transphobic and religiously aggravated “non-crime hate incidents”.
None of these tweets could rationally be described as hateful. They include: denying that transwomen are biological women, referring to male sex offenders housed in the female prison estate as “men”, and discussing her dog’s liking for cheese.
“The police need access to the right information to keep us all safe, but the information they are gathering for ‘hate crime’ purposes is unlikely to be of much, if any, use to them. It could even be actively harmful, since it allows recording of allegations that may have no rational basis or even be false and malicious. “As co-founder of Fair Cop and a public voice on sex and gender, I’m not surprised that I was reported. It couldn’t be easier — or more consequence-free — to report someone for perceived hatred. That’s why I’m raising money to challenge the College of Policing’s hate crime guidance. My lawyers will argue this is unlawful, running contrary to the Data Protection Act 2018, the GDPR and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which define political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs as sensitive and personal data.”
“The police need access to the right information to keep us all safe, but the information they are gathering for ‘hate crime’ purposes is unlikely to be of much, if any, use to them. It could even be actively harmful, since it allows recording of allegations that may have no rational basis or even be false and malicious.
“As co-founder of Fair Cop and a public voice on sex and gender, I’m not surprised that I was reported. It couldn’t be easier — or more consequence-free — to report someone for perceived hatred. That’s why I’m raising money to challenge the College of Policing’s hate crime guidance. My lawyers will argue this is unlawful, running contrary to the Data Protection Act 2018, the GDPR and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which define political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs as sensitive and personal data.”
You can contribute to Sarah’s crowdfunder here.
Subscribe to Fair Cop News to receive the latest campaign updates, blogs and Fair Cop news coverage.
Email address:
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the footer of any of the emails.
The Fair Cop News mailing list is provided by MailChimp. When you sign up, we only ask for your email address so we can send you occasional news emails. Your email address is passed to MailChimp so these news emails can be sent out. See MailChimp’s Privacy Policy for details on how they process your information. We do not sell or share your email address with third parties.