Priti Patel last night announced that the new rules for police who investigate hate crime claims will be enforced to ensure freedom of speech.
The Home Secretary promised to establish a standard of conduct regarding the storage of details when there is no evidence that a crime was committed.
After Harry Miller (ex-policeman) won this landmark Court of Appeal case, it is now.
He had been investigated over allegedly ‘transphobic’ posts on Twitter – later recorded by police as a ‘non-crime hate incident’.
A panel of top judges decided that current police rules violated the freedom to express Mr Miller after a lengthy legal battle lasting two years.
The Home Secretary declared that there would be a set of guidelines regarding the storage and retrieval of information when there has been no criminal activity.
Miss Patel is now preparing an amendment to Bill Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts to regulate how police stores personal information in connection to similar incidents.
‘The police will always have my backing to fully investigate hate crimes, but they must do so whilst protecting the fundamental right of freedom of expression,’ she said.
According to a spokesperson from the Home Office, information will be stored in a transparent manner and with stronger security measures.
They said that Miss Patel would write later in the week to the College of Policing as well the National Police Chiefs Council ‘to outline the Government’s position, and next steps’.
After a two-year legal fight, a panel of senior judges ruled current police rules breached Harry Miller’s (pictured) freedom of expression rights
In Monday’s ruling, one of Australia’s most accomplished judges, Dame Victoria Sharp stated that the rules currently in place to stop the recording of irrational complains did not have ‘common sense discretion.
It was ruled that the recording and storage of incidents of hatred and non-crime is a clear interference with freedom to express and that knowledge such matters were being recorded in a police database would likely have a severe ‘chilling impact’ on public discourse.
56-year-old Miller was charged with 31 tweets that were posted between November 2018 & January 2019.
One of his letters was: “I was born with the mammal designation, but my orientation as a fish.” Don’t mis-species me.’