A few years after the high profile Count Dankula “Nazi Pug” case, which raised concerns about the preservation of freedom of speech in the UK, it has been revealed that “offensive” jokes made on social media are now being held on a secret police database.
The Scottish Sun reported that hundreds of Scots are being held on a secret police database for their posts as police logged over 3,300 so-called “hate incidents.”
In order to wind up on the database, no ostensible crime has to be committed–merely making an ‘offensive’ or politically incorrect joke on social media will suffice.
The official guidelines list jokes which may be motivated by hostility towards protected groups, such as race, religion, or sexuality.
Furthermore, and, perhaps more eerily, the joke or remark can be uploaded to the database “irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identity the hate element.”
Police can also hand the information to future prospective employers in disclosure checks if the wrong-thinker files a job application.
According to The Times, 858 non-crime incidents–nearly 2.5 a day–were uploaded to the police database in 2019. In 2017, 9 people a day were arrested for “hate speech” at a time when police resources were squeezed.
Thirty-four police forces across England and Wales reportedly logged 120,000 cases in an effort which has been branded “a waste of police time.”
Comedians and pundits have decried the revelation of the database as being an encroachment on freedom of speech.
Yesterday, National File reported on a Wakefield “Cyber Prevention Officer” who was arrested and charged with distributing child pornography.
