Police forces in Britain have recorded some 120,000 allegations of so-called hate speech, though none of the instances had been found to have stopped any actual crimes.
In the United Kingdom, the police record non-crime hate incidents in criminal databases, meaning that despite having committed no crime, people will have the incidents visible on criminal background checks for six years. There is currently no appeal system in place.
A freedom of information request from the Mail on Sunday revealed that none of the 43 police forces in England and Wales could list a single crime that was prevented by the crackdown on free speech.
Twenty of the forces went on to admit that they do not have any system in place to monitor the effectiveness of the draconian practice.
The hate crime adviser for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Paul Gianassi, defended the recording of non-hate crime incidents, claiming that instances of hate speech could lead to “dehumanisation and ultimately murder”.
Senior officers have also claimed that it assists the police in measuring “tensions effectively and to prevent serious hostility and violence”.
A former police officer, Harry Miller, who was investigated by police in Humberside after sharing allegedly “transphobic” tweets online, said: “Non-crime hate incident reports do not appear to have any usefulness as a crime prevention tool, but what they do have is a chilling effect on free speech because they make people think twice before saying or posting something on social media in the fear that it could land them with a criminal record.
“These reports have allowed the police to become weaponised by woke activists who seek to attack and shut people up if they dare to express any views that they do not agree with.”
The UK Hate Crime Operational Guidelines state that non-crime hate incidents “must be recorded regardless of whether or not they are the victim, and irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identify the hate element”.
The guidelines on supposed hate incidents were recently updated to apply to schoolchildren and extended to instances of “ill-will, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment and dislike”.
In their attempts to tackle “hate” on the internet, police have also called upon the public to snitch on their fellow citizens for “things like offensive or insulting comments, online, in person or in writing”.
The chairman of the Common Sense Group of MPs and peers, Sir John Hayes, warned that the restrictions on speech are undermining the fundamental rights of Britons.
“There is a real threat in our society of the development of a thought police where only certain views are permitted and all else is at best regarded as unacceptable and at worst is deemed illegal.
“We must not meander into an Orwellian world where certain views are proscribed by an unrepresented and zealous minority who are determined to eradicate any views that are not compatible with their own. They are undermining the very essence of what it is to live in a free society,” Sir John said.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted this month by Savanta ComRes for the Reclaim Party found that 50 per cent of the British public feel that freedom of speech in Britain is “under threat”, compared to just 24 per cent who disagree.
The poll also found that only 12 per cent of those surveyed feel as if they have more freedom to express themselves than they did five years ago, while 49 per cent were more afraid to share their opinions.
Of those polled, 42 per cent said they were afraid of speaking out about transgender issues.
The leader of Reclaim, British actor Laurence Fox, told The Sunday Telegraph: “The results of the poll are alarming.”
Fox added that “woke” ideology is attempting “to tear down our statues, rewrite our proud history [and] stand in opposition to the tolerant, fair and free society our ancestors gave their lives for”.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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