Hate Crime, Resources and Instigators

By: A.C.

A high –ranking woman who happens to be Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police Sara Thornton is reported as saying” that while “treating misogyny as a hate crime is a concern for some well-organised campaigning organisations”, forces “do not have the resources to do everything”.

She added: “I want us to solve more burglaries and bear down on violence before we make more records of incidents that are not crimes”, adding she hoped the review “takes account of the pressure on forces before suggesting the law is changed”. There are some more quotes that I will leave to the reader to have an opinion about.

I have written about “hate crime” on this blog in the past and the definition in legal terminology is stated there.

Ms Thornton, in my opinion, is simply saying to the UK Government that having lost thousands of Police Officers in England (20,000), then the Police have neither the time nor resources to investigate or police all the initiatives that the Government wants Policing.

My interpretation  of her speech is not complicated, unlike some right–wing commentators  is that it just states the obvious to the government at Westminster, that if they keep slashing Police Officer numbers, equipment, recruitment, training, vehicles and  civilian staff, then expect Police Chiefs to prioritise what they do – because you the Government like to shove crime figures down our throats at the first opportunity, whilst making new laws and initiatives for the Police to deal with.

However, for victims of crime who feel violated, alone, isolated, and are maybe terrified by those bigots who have been emboldened by the rise of the populist right –wing of   Trump in Washington,  the German AFD,  Salveo Mattini in Italy, or Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil to name but a few, then  to hear that maybe one’s fear of intolerance and a society that does not care anymore must be very disheartening.

I do not think for a moment that Ms Thornton does not care about victims of crime, she simply cannot get to everyone and do the job effectively. That means getting the evidence, and then presenting it to the court.

In February of this year The BBC reported the Tweets of Isabel Oakeshott, one –time political editor of the Sunday Times, who was instrumental in the downfall of Chris Huhne , had tweeted pictures of the empty  disabled bays at Oxford Parkway Rail station. Her picture posted on Twitter , showed empty parking for the disabled parking bays.  There are 800 parking bays for able –bodied customers and 40 for disabled with a blue badge.

She stated her picture showed what was a “ a triumph of Political Correctness over common sense”   One of her replies to the barrage of protest was that it would be “OK if the Paralympics came to Oxford.”

One gets the impression that if Ms Oakeshott’s local Waitrose did not have her favourite case of wine, balsamic vinegar or porcini mushrooms,  she would feel well victimised.

If Ms Oakeshott learned how to be more sensitive and compassionate toward those she quietly victimises, she might not get quite so much hate mail.

This none too subtle but “soft  bigotry”  toward the disabled is common, but growing.

This week on the Jeremy Vine programme Ms Oakeshott was alongside Samantha Renke the disabled campaigner as part of the panel.  Her discomfort was obvious as she tried to make out that she is a victim of trolling, as Ms Renke related real hate crime and abuse that she eloquently puts over.

Highly –educated people like Ms Oakeshott should prehaps think about who and what they inspire when they speak the rhetoric of discrimination .

Ms Thornton as Chief Constable has her priorities laid out as she tries to manage a huge constabulary, with continual cutbacks, manpower shortages and fewer resources.  It is unfortunate that she is being forced by the Government austerity –allegedly finished – to instruct her control room staff to simply note some crimes over the phone.

For those who are victims you can visit Victim Support Scotland

Or go to the Scottish Government website  here for more information.

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