A Model for America: 100 arrested in hate crime raids across London

[keepCAblue]

Just stumbled across this article from about a month ago, but found it incredible. I can't imagine anything even remotely like this happening in the US, where hate crimes--homobigotry and transphobia, especially--would be aggressively and proactively fought by law enforcement. Sad country we live in, where violent bigots and inciters of hate are allowed to act with impunity. And the disparity in how London deals with hate crimes and how the U.S. deals (or doesn't) with it is in the stats: In London, from 2008 to 2009, gay-biased hate crimes increased 3.7% while here in the U.S., gay-biased hate crimes SOARED 28% for a comparable period. Nearly a 10-fold difference.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-12524.html

100 arrested in hate crime raids across London

By Jessica Geen • May 20, 2009 - 15:13

One hundred people were arrested today as part of a police swoop on hate crimes in London.

The Metropolitan Police Service began a series of raids on addresses across the capital this morning to crack down on domestic, homophobic, transphobic, race and other forms of hate crime.

A police spokesman confirmed that as of 1.30pm, 100 arrests had been made relating to domestic violence and hate crimes such as homophobia and transphobia.

He added that police had focused on offenders who were known to them or who had evaded arrest.

It is not yet known how many properties were searched in the raids, which are continuing today.

Operation Athena is being carried out to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which was held on Sunday.

The operation involves targeting "dangerous and prolific" offenders, along with high-visibility patrols and measures to encourage hate crime victims to come forward.

Acting Detective Superintendent Gerry Campbell, who is heading Operation Athena, said:

"Athena is now in its ninth year, and we retain a relentless commitment to tackling all forms of domestic violence, homophobic, transphobic and other forms of hate crime, whilst continually improving our services to victims and potential victims.

“Today's operation sends out a clear message: violence in any form is unacceptable. We will continue to proactively identify, arrest and seek the prosecution of violent people.

“We now have public protection groups in every London borough, dedicated to proactively investigating a wide range of domestic violence, hate and sexual crimes perpetrated by violent and dangerous offenders.

“We remain concerned that such crimes remain unreported, which we understand can be for a number of different reasons. However, we would like to urge any victims of such crimes to come forward and speak with us.

"We have access to dedicated, specialist care to support you and keep you safe. I want to personally appeal to victims to report these hurtful, sensitive and insidious crimes directly to police or through a third party or non-police reporting site.”

It is not yet clear how many properties have been searched or how many arrests have been made.

Between April 2008 and March 2009, homophobic offences rose by 3.7 per cent in London.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Hate crime is illegal here in th UK

It really is that simple.

[paulsby]

3. so is "hate speech"

which is abhorrent from a civil rights angle

[paulsby]

2. not a model at all

this is england. many of their so called hate crimes are THOUGHT crimes. we don't criminalize hate SPEECH in the US. the UK does. i strongly support pro-actively going after hate CRIMES, but not when those "crimes" (under england's law... and much of europe) includes merely making statements towards an identifiable group that are hateful, demeaning, etc.


the UK's laws are positively orwellian and an affront to anybody who believes in free speech.

I'm glad we fought for independence.

[keepCAblue]

5. Yes, it's more important to protect people's free speech to incite violence...

..then to protect the lives of those who are the targets of said violence.

I guess that makes Canada "Orwellian" as well, as Canada likewise has zero tolerance for hate speech which incites violence. All one has to do is compare the hate crime rates of Canada and the UK to that of the U.S. and draw the inference. I personally would prefer to live where the government and law enforcement are proactive in protecting my person, my family and my home.

[paulsby]

6. strawman. study the law. lose the rhetoric.

englands laws, and the laws of most of europe do not require incitement to violence as an element of hate speech crimes.

i have already cited a long example of canada's laws that do NOT require an incitemtn of violence to render hate speech criminal.

publically denying the holocaust for example, is a prosecutable offense.

so, nice strawmn.

there are laws in the US, fwiw, that cover inciting violence.

but that's not what we are talking about here.

if you would rather live in country that gives the govt. the power to prosecute unpopular or hateful speech, knock yerself out. door's on the left.

fortunately, we have a 1st amendment that protects such speech, because it is essential to liberty.

see: voltaire.

england also, fwiw does not have an exclusionary rule. evidence is not suppressable merely because it was obtained contrary to law.

nor do they have a right to remain silent. your silence CAN be used against you.

are you willing to cede these rights as well?

clearly, you aren't much a fan of the 1st amendment.

[IntravenousDemilo]

8. "Freedom of speech" does not imply that you merit an audience for said speech. n/m

[dipsydoodle]

9. Correct

Say what you like to yourself but keep it to yourself.

I do find it quite laughable that anyone outside of the UK should query OUR own law which particularly in this case is for the overall good.

Details here for you :

Hatred is a strong term that goes beyond simply causing offence or hostility. Hate crime is any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by an offender's hatred of someone because of their:

* race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins
* religion
* gender or gender identity
* sexual orientation
* disability

Hate crime can take many forms including:

* physical attacks – such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti, neighbour disputes and arson
* threat of attack – including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate and unfounded, malicious complaints
* verbal abuse or insults - offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace

Our definition of a hate crime:

*
Any incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/hate-crime/

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Offensive Posters?

So photoshoping "W"'s face onto a chimp and putting that up on a lampost?

Their country they can do as they like. But some of what I have read in regards to Canadian cases go a bit far for my tastes in restricting freedom of speach.

[dipsydoodle]

11. The Act

doesn't exactly cover the example you quoted.

[paulsby]

14. both the UK, canada, france, etc

go too far.

WAY too far.

we distinguish between saying offensive, hateful things, and committing CRIMES (vandalism, threats, etc.) motivated by hate

the latter are ILLEGAL

the former are FREE SPEECH.

it allows for REAL freedom.

[paulsby]

13. exactly. it's egregious and an offense to free speech

i am well aware of what the law is. it's egregious, contrary to civil rights, and contrary to a free society.

offending somebody, being verbally abusive towards an identifiable group, denying the holocaust, etc. are the types of speech our 1st amendment was designed to protect.

i have NO problem criticizing the UK for their ceding of free speech.

feel free to criticize the US when you see us doing the same, or when we don't have (for example) universal health care. i certainly do.

but the UK is not off limits. i criticize govt. abuse of citizen freedom in an allegedly free country like england.

[paulsby]

12. nobody said that

it means (not implies) that govt. cannot prosecute or censor you for using it.

which is what england does. they don't have free speech. we do.

bully for us

[joeybee12]

18. You cannot yell "Fire" in a crowded building...free speech is not absolute

when you live in a society and speech has consequences...if they were going after thoughts as you claim, they would be going after someone standing on a corner thinking something hateful.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

22. Pity the man who feels his Freedom Of Speech is curtailed...

... because of his Choice Of Expression.


There is quite a difference in saying 'I really don't understand Grandmother's who bake cookies for their Grandkids'

and

"Those G**D**M F**KI*G GRAMMAS and THEIR SUGAR RUSH HIGHS are RUINING OUR CHILDRENS HEALTH, they should be KILLED"

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[dickthegrouch]

7. International what day?

I read vast amounts of LGBT related news and publications and the first I hear about "International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia" is four days after it happened?????

We have got to get better at organising in every respect.

It is unacceptable that we don't use an "international day" for every angle we can think of. I don't even remember anyone at San Jose Pride mentioning it. But we could have done so much more with it if we'd known it was coming a few months early.

Kudos to the Brit Police and more kudos to the Brit LGBT organizations who clearly have their act far better coordinated than us in the US.

[keepCAblue]

15. Obviously Paulsby has never been a victim of a hate crime. Too bad...n/t

[dipsydoodle]

17. I thought that too.

[struggle4progress]

16. Some links to UK laws:

Specific to Northern Ireland: limits "threatening, abusive or insulting" intended to or likely to "stir up hatred or arouse fear": Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (NI 7) as amended by The Criminal Justice (No. 2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004
http://www.legislationline.org/documents/action/popup/id/4201

Increases penalties for "racially or religiously aggravated" crimes: Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 as amended by Part 5 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001
http://www.legislationline.org/documents/action/popup/id/4202

Increases seriousness of existing 0crimes if "racially or religiously aggravated": Crime and Disorder Act 1998 as amended by Part 5 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001
http://www.legislationline.org/documents/action/popup/id/4200

Limits threats "intended to stir up religious hatred": Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060001_en_1

[hack89]

19. Sounds like a Freepers wetdream

especially the religious hatred acts.

[struggle4progress]

21. The religious hatred laws for Northern Ireland may be justified by the history. The religious

hatred laws for the rest of the UK seem to me merely draw the threat line differently than we in the US do. In the US, it can be clearly illegal for me to say something like "Somebody should kill hack89" if the statement reflects a genuine threat, whereas something like "Let's kill all the Catholics" or "Let's kill all the Democrats" or "Let's kill all the gays" may not be censorable unless it occurs in a context where there is an immediate "clear and present danger" that listeners will follow through. The UK law, on the other hand, prosecutes "Let's kill all the Catholics" if the statement reflects a genuine threat, whether or not there is a clear and present danger. The general UK law does not prosecute merely hateful speech -- it prosecutes hatefully motivated threatening speech

The real restrictions to free speech in England may come from its libel laws and the Official Secrets Act

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Few in the U.S. recognize "International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia"

And fewer knew something like that even existed.