As much as I loathe the police, criminal investgation for this is utterly ludicrous and sinister. Disciplinary proceedings yes, criminal no.
Criminal proceedings for things said in a private WhatsApp group, scary times. Absolutely fire them if the messages were sinister in intent as we don’t want people like that in the Police but criminal charges?
They won’t turn up when I call them but they have the resources to investigate some messages.
According to guidelines covering section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act, these arrests are bullshit.
> On December 19, to strike a balance between freedom of speech and criminality, the Director of Public Prosecutions issued guidelines, which came into effect immediately, clarifying that social messaging is eligible for prosecution under UK law. Communications that are credible threats of violence, harassment, or stalking (such as aggressive Internet trolling), and **posts that breach court orders (such as those protecting the identity of a victim of a sexual offense) can be prosecuted, unlike posts which are “grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, or false.”**
> Under the guidelines prosecutors must recognise the right to “freedom of expression” and only proceed with a **prosecution when a communication is “more than offensive, shocking or disturbing, even if distasteful or painful to those subjected to it”.**
> Messages that were not intended for a wide audience – such as tweets by someone with a small number of followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter – were also unlikely to lead to prosecution, they went on.
So, it seems this is a violation of their freedom of speech/expression.
A group of coppers from a location not a million miles from me got sacked after a secret WhatsApp group came to light.
Unusually for Reddit I often stick up for the the Police, but the fact that the officers in question were joking about rape amongst other things just made me think that they absolutely should not be anywhere near policing.
What is with the UK and vague laws? What the fuck does it even mean “grossly offensive”? That’s an opinion, I rolled on the floor from some quality racist memes, it’s fucking funny, no matter if it makes fun of black or white folk. Police Officers should never be at risk of a jail sentence over memes, they will be executed in jail even if they end up there for 2 months.
I hope stuff like this gets stamped out rapidly.
None of us want to see the police end up having the reputation they have on the other side of the Atlantic.
7 comments
As much as I loathe the police, criminal investgation for this is utterly ludicrous and sinister. Disciplinary proceedings yes, criminal no.
Criminal proceedings for things said in a private WhatsApp group, scary times. Absolutely fire them if the messages were sinister in intent as we don’t want people like that in the Police but criminal charges?
They won’t turn up when I call them but they have the resources to investigate some messages.
According to guidelines covering section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act, these arrests are bullshit.
> On December 19, to strike a balance between freedom of speech and criminality, the Director of Public Prosecutions issued guidelines, which came into effect immediately, clarifying that social messaging is eligible for prosecution under UK law. Communications that are credible threats of violence, harassment, or stalking (such as aggressive Internet trolling), and **posts that breach court orders (such as those protecting the identity of a victim of a sexual offense) can be prosecuted, unlike posts which are “grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, or false.”**
> Under the guidelines prosecutors must recognise the right to “freedom of expression” and only proceed with a **prosecution when a communication is “more than offensive, shocking or disturbing, even if distasteful or painful to those subjected to it”.**
> Messages that were not intended for a wide audience – such as tweets by someone with a small number of followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter – were also unlikely to lead to prosecution, they went on.
https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=204352
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/10132657/Offensive-online-posts-to-escape-prosecution-if-writers-apologise-say-new-guidelines.html
So, it seems this is a violation of their freedom of speech/expression.
A group of coppers from a location not a million miles from me got sacked after a secret WhatsApp group came to light.
Unusually for Reddit I often stick up for the the Police, but the fact that the officers in question were joking about rape amongst other things just made me think that they absolutely should not be anywhere near policing.
What is with the UK and vague laws? What the fuck does it even mean “grossly offensive”? That’s an opinion, I rolled on the floor from some quality racist memes, it’s fucking funny, no matter if it makes fun of black or white folk. Police Officers should never be at risk of a jail sentence over memes, they will be executed in jail even if they end up there for 2 months.
I hope stuff like this gets stamped out rapidly.
None of us want to see the police end up having the reputation they have on the other side of the Atlantic.