I’m am both surprised and absolutely delighted by the news that Harry Miller aka Harry The Owl has won his case at the High Court against the College of Policing and the Chief Constable of Humberside Police. Many will be familiar with the case but for those who are not, Mr Miller is a retired police officer now a businessman who retweeted a mocking limerick about transgenderism and the transgender ideology. He was contacted by PC Gul of Humberside Police and told to ‘check his thinking’ even though no crime had been committed by Mr Miller.
Mr Miller has challenged the police and the college of policing on the grounds that these ‘non crime hate incidents’ are included on a person’s record and would show up on a enhanced criminal records check of the sort that those wishing to work with children have to submit to. As the vast majority of ‘hate crime’ and especially ‘hate speech’ incidents rely on the perception that ‘hate’ is involved in the incident by the victim/complainant/thin skinned tosser (delete that which is not applicable), it’s highly likely that there are a lot of people with a ‘hate incident’ on their record even though they have not been convicted by a court.
This is absolutely brilliant news from the High Court and it is as Guido Fawkes said, a ‘landmark’ decision by the courts. This result is, in my view, seriously important and will hopefully have implications for the future. It is highly possible that the vast majority of ‘non crime hate incidents’ to give them their police approved Owellian name, are made up on reports which are wholly based on one party in an argument or a conversation or even some dubious ‘third party reporting organisation’, having a ‘perception’ about something. Remember with ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crime’ laws there’s often no real need for evidence to show that a crime or or a ‘non crime hate incident’ has been committed only a perception, whether it be true or false, is required. If it is indeed the case that there are loads of people with these dubious ‘non crime hate incidents’ against their name then their records need to be cleared of them by the police and other agencies.
Well done Mr Miller and all of those who supported him. Let’s hope that this is the start of a major fightback against ‘hate crime’ and ‘hate speech’ laws that do little but created different and differently advantaged classes in British society. Let’s have a fully equal justice system and a fully open free speech culture and consign ‘hate speech’ laws to the dustbin of history where they deserve to be put. Today Harry the Owl didn’t just win for himself, he won for all Britons who want to see free speech restored.
I will leave you with the Judge’s comment on the case which Guido so rightly highlighted and which are so apt.
“The effect of the police turning up at [the Claimant’s] place of work because of his political opinions must not be underestimated. To do so would be to undervalue a cardinal democratic freedom. In this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi. We have never lived in an Orwellian society.”
Harry fought this fight for us all. Well done that man!
“… In this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi. We have never lived in an Orwellian society…”
Up to around 1997, that would have been true. Since then, the establishment has continued the work started by the unholy triumvirate of Blair, Mandelson, and Campbell to ensure that we do have such bodies.
“Harry The Owl wins and wins not just for himself but for all Britons.”
But did he.
The judge ruled that the College of Policing guidelines allowing them to record tweets as a ‘non-crime hate incident’ were also lawful under both domestic and European law. The judge stated that the Police had a legitimate aim in recording hate incidents that weren’t crimes and that the impact on people like Mr Miller was outweighed by the need to protect minority groups.
Deputy Chief Constable Bernie O’Reilly, of the College of Policing, said: “Hate incidents can be a precursor to these types of crimes and without recording them the police will begin to lose sight of what is happening in their communities – and potentially lose their confidence.”
In short nothing’s changed as far as the Police are concerned.
In truth the win is a very narrow one, Miller won because the police acted over-zealously in enforcing Political correctness – visiting his place of work, telling him to stop tweeting on the subject, threatening to escalate the matter and publicly calling him a transphobe.
Welcome though this is, it is not a real victory for free speech, all it does is place a marginal limit on Police action in response to thought-crime.
I agree that it is a small win and the police can continue to gather this often evidence free ‘hate incident’ rubbish which can be as subjective as ‘he looked at me in a funny way’ sort of thing, but at the very least it does show to the public how police forces are now far more interested in policing ‘thought crimes ‘ than they are stopping burglaries or rape gangs.
Having skimmed through the Judgement in the Miller case, I would remind everyone that the policy on which PC Gul acted was found to be lawful (although it is presently under revision). The non-crime hate incident that was recorded against Mr Miller remains in place. If Mr Miller ever needs an Extended Criminal Records Check certificate, it is possible that this incident will be disclosed – at Police discretion. In that event, Mr Miller has the right of appeal to an independent monitor, but by then, the damage will have been done.
@F221
I take your point, but i suspect that most of the Public (at least those with functioning brains) had already come to that conclusion – there has been enough evidence of our PCPCs policing thoughtcrime over the past few years.
IMO what this case is more likely to do is make the less thoughtful think (pardon the oxymoron) that we still have free speech in this Country whereas what we actually have is ever closer to permitted speech.
@decnine
That is a good point. It’s highly chilling that one can be not guilty of a crime but guilty of wrongthink that could easily lead to the loss of your job.