News

The Times view on non-criminal ‘hate incidents’: Defending Dissent

For the police to record non-criminal ‘hate incidents’ is a waste of their time and a threat to free speech

It is compassionate to sympathise with someone who is upset but this should never be a matter for the police. This principle was affirmed on Monday in a wise judgment by the Court of Appeal. The court upheld a legal challenge by Harry Miller, a former police officer, against a national policy for police forces to record opinions critical of transgender activism as non-crime “hate incidents”.

Read article: The Times view on non-criminal ‘hate incidents’: Defending Dissent | Comment

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Let people express their views, Priti Patel tells police

Priti Patel will warn police to do more to protect freedom of speech after judges ruled that recording “non-crime hate incidents” risked interfering with people’s right to express their opinions.

The home secretary will try to enshrine in law a new code of practice that controls the way officers record such incidents after Harry Miller, a former PC, won a court battle over his right to tweet about transgender issues.

Read article: Let people express their views, Priti Patel tells police | News | The Times

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The Miller effect: How the Court of Appeal refashioned freedom of speech, by LGN legal commentator Dennis Kavanagh

Harry Miller and his organisation “Fair Cop” pulled off a stunning victory in the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal on 20th December securing a powerful judgment which effectively renders the modern recording of “non-crime hate incidents” by police forces unlawful. Upholding the Appellant’s case on two of the five grounds advanced (proportionality and interference with a human right), the President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Dame Victoria Sharpe, found the recording framework “extraordinarily broad” and far too easily triggered to be lawful ruling that “The threshold for hostility is low (it can include ill-will,

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Calls for 120,000 ‘hate incidents’ to be deleted from police records

  • EXCLUSIVE: Campaigners call for 120,000 ‘hate incidents’ to be deleted
  • Ex-policeman Harry Miller won challenge against College of Policing guidance
  • He was threatened with prosecution if he didn’t stop discussing trans issues
  • Legal battle launched after the matter was recorded as ‘non-crime hate incident’
  • Judges ruled guidance on ‘hate incidents’ had ‘chilling effect’ on free speech

Read article: Calls for 120,000 ‘hate incidents’ to be deleted from police records | Daily Mail Online

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Ex Humberside Police officer wins landmark battle over ‘transphobic’ tweets

A former Humberside Police officer who was investigated by his own force over allegedly ‘transphobic’ Tweets has won a landmark Court of Appeal challenge.

Harry Miller was challenging police guidance on ‘hate incidents’ claiming that it interfered with the basic right to freedom of expression.

Read article: Ex Humberside Police officer wins landmark battle over ‘transphobic’ tweets – Hull Live

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Miller’s victory

We have no doubt that 2021 will be remembered as the turning of the tide. There is much more work to be done, but it was this year that we tore away the curtain of gender ideology to reveal nothing but intellectual pygmies, moral cowardice and lies. Harry’s victory — our victory — will send shockwaves through policing and politics, forcing the establishment to confront a deeply uncomfortable truth: that we cannot have a free society without free speech.

And it all started with a typical Harry tweet: crude and crass but — we can finally say — not

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Free speech victory for trans tweet ex-policeman Harry Miller at Appeal Court

A retired policeman visited by his local force after tweeting about transgender rights has won a court battle over free speech after judges said that his treatment could have a “chilling effect on public debate”.

The Court of Appeal ruled unanimously today that the “hate crime operational guidance” from the College of Policing unlawfully breached Harry Miller’s human rights.

The ruling calls into question potentially thousands of other matters recorded since the guidance was issued in 2014.

Read article: Free speech victory for trans tweet ex-policeman Harry Miller at Appeal Court | News | The Times

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‘Being offensive is not an offence’

A major victory has been won for free speech in England. The Court of Appeal has ruled that so-called non-crime hate incidents can no longer be recorded by police. The case was brought by Harry Miller, one of the thousands of ordinary Britons to have this black mark put against his name, merely for expressing his views. Back in 2019, Miller, a Humberside businessman and former policeman, was investigated by police over some allegedly ‘transphobic’ tweets. One was a limerick that Miller had retweeted. Though no crime had been committed, the police recorded the tweets as a non-crime hate

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