Police Withdraw Social Media Campaign After Criticism From Home Secretary

Leicestershire Police have withdrawn a social media campaign about reporting hate crime after it was criticised by the Home Secretary.

The advert, posted on social media during Hate Crime Awareness Week, featured a picture and a quote purporting to be from a transgender woman from Hinckley, about hurtful comments.

It has since emerged the picture was a stock image and the quote was made-up.

In a tweet, the Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the police needed to ‘enforce actual laws and fight actual crimes’.

This week I have seen confusion amongst police forces about what constitutes a ‘hate crime’.

The police need to enforce actual laws & fight actual crimes. Freedom of speech must be protected and a proportionate approach must be taken. 1/2 https://t.co/uoMrqSFC9M

— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) October 16, 2022

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.
2/2#commonsensepolicing

— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) October 16, 2022

Leicestershire’s Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon has said the advert was being fact checked and the force will be reviewing how stock images are used going forward.

In a statement he said: “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’.