Suella Braverman doubled down on her crackdown on “woke” policing as she called for officers to be “patrolling the streets, not policing pronouns”.
Addressing officers at the annual Police Federation of England and Wales Conference, the home secretary said she was fighting a “campaign against political correctness in policing”.
She said it was right that crimes should only be recorded when a criminal threshold has been reached, rather than when someone “claims to be offended”.
She told officers: “It was right for bureaucratic reasons – and in the cause of free speech – to ensure that a malicious communication crime will be recorded only if a criminal threshold has clearly been reached and not just when someone claims to be offended.
“I’m not fighting my campaign against political correctness in policing only for the sake of the law-abiding majority who want to see officers patrolling the streets, not policing pronouns on Twitter. I also know that’s what the majority of you signed up for, too.”
She also repeated calls for police to investigate “every crime”, adding she expects “significant improvements” in police responses to crimes such as phone theft, car theft, shoplifting, and criminal damage.
She said anything which distracted officers from that was “unwelcome”.
Suella Braverman tells a police conference she was fighting a ‘campaign against political correctness in policing’— (PA Wire)
She added: “You need clarity from political leaders and I could not be clearer: I believe in the Peelian Principles of policing, I believe in investigating every crime, and I believe in keeping the public safe by catching criminals.
“Anything that distracts from this is unwelcome - whether that’s enforcing non-existent blasphemy laws unnecessarily recording a non-crime hate incident or joining in with political demonstrations.”
Her comments come after the politician, who previously railed against the “tofu-eating wokerati”, ordered a probe into police impartiality in September.
She raised concerns about officers “pandering to politically correct causes”, such as taking the knee and dancing with protesters, as she ordered an impartiality review by Andy Cooke, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary.
She also repeated her commitment to officers withdrawing from mental health callouts, despite safety concerns from mental health campaigners.
She said the ‘Right Care, Right Person’ approach announced in July following a pilot in Humberside, could save forces a million policing hours.
“The police will only be expected to attend mental health incidents if there is a real and immediate risk of serious harm or where there may be criminal activity,” she said.
“Anyone suffering a mental health crisis needs the right support in the most appropriate setting. That is not a police cell.”
Answering questions from federation members, Ms Braverman rejected claims that police forces are “institutionally racist”, after Baroness Louise Casey concluded the Metropolitan Police was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic in damning review earlier this year.
“I don’t believe that term is a useful one or an accurate one. It is not a term that I use when describing the police,” she said, adding that she believes it has a “disempowering effect” for officers trying to build confidence with communities.
She also announced plans to focus on preventing “one-punch” homicides impacting men over 25 killed in public.
She said: “Too often we have heard about a group of friends on a night out over Christmas ending in tragedy, with an argument escalating into a one-punch homicide.
“We are investing in the police’s national communications campaign to raise awareness of the danger of this appalling phenomenon and in local police-led activity to make pubs, other licensed premises, and the night-time economy safer this winter.”
