Police impartiality undermined by Stonewall links
by Carys Moseley, Christian Concern:
Free speech campaign group Fair Cop has drawn attention to the fact that the police is too closely linked to Stonewall. Via Freedom of Information requests to all 43 police authorities in England and Wales, it has discovered the levels of spending by the police on rainbow logos and other merchandise from Stonewall.
Policing must not be political
At the heart of Fair Cop’s unease with the police here is the moral principle that policing must not be political. The campaigners quote the Code of Ethics of the College of Policing, responsible for training police officers. This code states clearly that police officers must not be actively involved in politics. The reason is set out as follows:
“This is intended to prevent you from placing yourself in a position where your impartiality may be questioned.”
There is an obvious reason why the police must not be political. It is far too easy for political passions to take over from cooler level-headed judgement when handling potential crime situations. For example, the police often have to deal with public demonstrations and protests. The police cannot be seen to be biased in favour of one group of protesters against any counter-protesters. This would cause loss of trust in the police and could eventually lead to vigilantism as people decide to take the law into their own hands.
Public safety compromised
Fair Cop’s investigation into Stonewall is soon to be published as a report, which will no doubt be read closely by many interested parties. Its expression of concern comes a month after the Daily Mail reported that Hertfordshire police put out a call for a wanted sex attacker without indicating that this was a man wearing women’s clothes. The public was misled, and thus public safety was compromised.
This problem isn’t confined to the police. The Equal Treatment Bench Book, which advises judges on equality and diversity, tells them they must require rape victims to call rapists who identify as women ‘she’ in court. This merely adds insult to injury as far as victims are concerned. It forces everybody to lie under oath, thus undermining the whole practice of the law.
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