The head of a police group has called on the Government to “stop setting us up to fail” and give clearer guidance on how to balance freedom of speech and human rights.
President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, Nick Smart, joined a series of senior officers who have called for a change in the wake of the row over the arrest of Father Ted writer Graham Linehan.
Giving his keynote address at the association’s annual conference on Tuesday, he said: “We have once again entered a period of divided Britain, during which we’re seeing communities have social conflict over issues linked to equality, diversity, immigration and free speech.
“Policing often finds itself in the centre of this, policing societal issues, whether it’s managing protests, responding to allegations of hate or offensive social media comments.
“Our job is often impossible, and we will be viewed as ineffective.
“These issues surely can’t sit purely with the police service, who are working with outdated legislation.
“As I said, we don’t write the laws, but we’re asked to enforce them even when they are often open to interpretation and division.
“We’ve seen calls for clearer guidance for police on these issues from the Met commissioner, we will wholeheartedly agree.
“Again, stop setting us up to fail.”
Earlier this month chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Gavin Stephens, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley and head of the College of Policing Sir Andy Marsh wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to push for legal changes.
They said current legislation pre-dates the widespread use of social media and is applied to situations for which it was never intended.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who spoke at the event via a remote link from Westminster, said the Conservatives plan to table an amendment in the House of Lords this autumn that would abolish non-crime hate incidents.
These are used by police to gather information on potential disorder, although senior officers and a police watchdog have publicly said they no longer believe NCHIs are necessary.
Mr Smart was also asked whether he will make contact with Reform UK, in case they are elected as the next government.
“In any society where we have politicians that are representing large groups of people, then there’s a duty for us, possibly, to engage with and hear what they’ve got to say.
“I’d be quite interested to hear what their views on policing are.
“But at the moment, in the chamber, the mainstream parties are the Conservatives and the Labour Party, there’s also Lib Dems – Reform, I think only have five (seats).
“Moving forward it is something we’ve got to consider if, for example, they get more councils, or if they get more MPs in by-elections prior to the election, certainly, if they do become the next government, we would have to certainly engage with them.”
