Fair Cop response to report of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

In September 2023 former Home Secretary Suella Braverman commissioned a report from HMICFRS to examine police involvement in politically contested matters.

Fair Cop were pleased to be invited to discuss this commission, as the issue of the police keeping out of politics and maintaining its impartiality is the foundation of the work of Fair Cop; we came into being when it became clear in 2018 that the police were taking sides in the ‘sex v gender’ debate and visited Harry Miller to ‘check

We are delighted that the Court of Appeal agreed with us that Chapter 6 of the Hate Crimes Guidance was a disproportionate breach of Harry’s article 10 rights, and also that the supposed ‘revisions’ to the 2014 Guidance in 2020 did not go nearly far enough to deal with this.

The Court of Appeal clearly stated that the Guidance violated Harry’s rights to freedom of expression.

We look forward to seeing how the Guidance is now re-drafted – and how the police are going to deal with the many thousands of NCHIs on their databases.

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Full judgment and

Harry Miller challenges College of Policing over its hate crime guidance following High Court victory against Humberside Police

18 February 2021 – Free speech campaigner Harry Miller is taking his battle against police harassment to the Court of Appeal, which will hear his case on 8th to 10th March.

In February 2020, Miller won a landmark ruling against Humberside Police in the High Court after the force recorded a “non-crime hate incident” (NCHI) against him for tweeting about transgender issues. In his judgement, Mr Justice Knowles said that Miller’s tweets were “not even in the foothills of harassment”

Sarah Phillimore crowdsources for judicial review against the College of Policing after local force records gender critical tweets as “non crime hate incident”

9 November 2020 – A barrister is challenging police hate crime guidance in court after her local force recorded her tweets as a “hate incident”, even though there was no evidence that a crime had been committed.

Sarah Phillimore is a family law barrister and one of the UK’s best-known commentators on police harassment of people who express gender critical views, having co-founded the Fair Cop campaign with Harry Miller in May 2019. 

In

Fair Cop calls for College of Policing to be held accountable for leading police further away from the law

4 November 2020 –  New police hate crime guidance is in “defiance of the law” and strengthens the police’s ability to criminalise people for expressing an opinion, analysis by Fair Cop reveals.

Last year the College of Policing announced a consultation on its Hate Crime Operational Guidance (HCOG). The updated Guidance, published on 21st October, further expands the list of protected categories beyond what is recognised in existing legislation, and advises officers to make direct contact with the

Fair Cop highlights widespread institutional capture by trans lobby groups and calls on forces to adopt “Her Majesty’s Rule” on political affiliation

19th September 2020

Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely flouting their oath “to serve without fear or favour” by openly promoting political causes and misrepresenting the law, a new report reveals.

Policing Through the Looking Glass is the first report by Fair Cop, the watchdog founded to highlight the politicisation of the police and the harassment of people who express gender-critical views.

The product of 18 months’ analysis, the report details the