POLICE are being forced to take decisions that “appear to contradict common sense”, because of equality laws, a watchdog has warned.
Its controversial report said there was no clear evidence of two-tier policing in the UK at events such as pro-Palestine marches.
Andy Cooke, head of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), said discrimination laws have left police with “major dilemmas”.
At a Police Superintendents’ Association annual conference today, Mr Cooke said the current rules are “a mess”. He will tell delegates officers are struggling to keep up with the list of characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010.
The list includes the holding of gender critical views, opposition to critical race theory, veganism and a philosophical belief in anti-Zionism.
Mr Cooke added it means that even playground taunts could be recorded as hate crimes. He will say of the many difficulties: “Searches of people of the opposite biological sex is just one example.”
The HMIC report concluded: “To some observers, certain decisions may appear to contradict common sense.”
Senior officers were also told police have been left at the centre of a storm not of their making due to the early release of hundreds of prisoners.
President of the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) Nick Smart today’s conference that inmates are being set free without proper release plans and that the police would be left to deal with the consequences.
He used his keynote speech to say: “My colleagues are once again being placed at the centre of a storm that is not their doing, with the prospect of arresting offenders who can then not be placed in prison, and dealing with the fallout from the thousands of criminals being released early today, many potentially without proper rehabilitation and release plans.
“Will the public understand the position the police officers and the service are being put in here, or will we once again be viewed as a service getting it wrong?”
Delegates also heard that the service has been underfunded for several years, with the recent riots showing how police officers had to be pulled from other duties to deal with unrest.
