Sometimes there comes along a story from the media that makes me think ‘surely this cannot be true’, it’s too damn mad to be true. A recent story about the excesses of politically correct culture in Britain’s police forces was just one such story. At first this story looked like it could have been cooked up in some fake news lab or was quoting some less than reliable intermediary source, but sadly my own brief examination of the story showed that it is all too likely to be true.
Breitbart recently carried the story of a British police detective who having apprehended an Iraqi man who was suspected of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a 12 year old girl, approached a respected charity that deals with forced marriage issues and asked how the detective should treat the suspect. The detective asked the Karma Nirvana group, a group that has won charity sector awards for their work in combating forced marriage, whether it was culturally acceptable in Iraqi society for a 26 year old man to be sexually involved with a 12 year old girl.
What is gobsmacking about this case is the reason why the police officer was asking this question. The question was not being asked in order that the officer may have some sort of background knowledge, something that may be needed in order to effectively question the prisoner, but in order that the police officer could behave in a ‘culturally sensitive’ manner towards the arrested man. In my opinion the first reason that I gave here would be readily acceptable, you want to get the best out of your questioning technique whereas the second reason shows that this officer is working in a police force where political correctness has had a devastating effect on the conduct of policing. There should be no considerations at all given to being ‘culturally sensitive’ just for the sake of it to those accused of serious criminal offences such as unlawful sex.
The Karma Nirvana charity appeared quite rightly horrified that a police officer should ask such a question and they are stating that this question was logged in their call log and that they told the police officer that this prisoner needs to be dealt with in the same way as any other paedophile. Karma Nirvana did not say that this alleged criminal’s culture should be taken into consideration and that he should be treated as would any other person arrested should be treated.
As I said I saw the story and thought surely a member of the non uniformed branch of a police force, an officer that will have had to undergo extra training in order to hold such a position, would not ask such a crass and offensive question nor would they prioritise such a minor thing as the alleged offender’s culture during a police investigation. However, it turns out that this story may well be mostly correct. I see no reason for Karma Nirvana to lie about this matter, it doesn’t help their cause any further than highlighting the problematic attitudes that women facing forced marriage may encounter with the police. Karma Nirvana doesn’t need to lie in order to gain a higher profile, a brief look at their website shows that they have that already and also have access to government. The Breitbart story also says that Karma Nirvana logged the call therefore it is something that could be confirmed with access to the call log.
If this story of the police officer asking such a crass question is correct and is not just the result of this particular police enquiry being run by a particularly and unusually dim detective, then shows that some or even many of Britain’s police forces are infested with a level of political correctness that is negatively affecting the way that Britain is being policed. If this isn’t a one off case of police stupidity, then it could show that we have major problems in our police forces with officers more concerned about the cultural well being of alleged offenders than enforcing the law. The question that the officer asked goes way beyond not feeding a Muslim or Jewish prisoner a bacon sandwich but gives the impression that the officer was willing to amend his questioning had he been told that it was culturally acceptable for a 26 year old man and a 12 year old girl to get together. We should worry greatly about how we are being police when an officer with the sort of experience required to make him or her a detective could even begin to even think it was acceptable to ask the question they did and for the possible reasons that they did. I agree with Karma Nirvana that this story shows the danger of policing through the lens of ‘cultural sensitivity’.
Links
Brietbart story of yet another politically correct police fail
The website of the Karma Nirvana organisation that really looks like it is worth supporting.
Looking for an excuse “not to proceed.” is what was going on here. “Will it do my career any good ?” would be one question they asked themselves, followed by “I don’t want to be targeted by the local muslims / my superiors / the press.” and finally: “How do I wriggle out of taking responsibility?”
In contrast, accusing a serving minister in a Conservative government of the completely unverifiable charge having put his hand on a female BBC journalist’s knee 12 years ago (Kate Maltby/Damian Green) will naturally bring nothing but praise and promotion from their Lefty bosses….
(Christ – I’ve just Googled this story to check the spelling of Damian Green’s name, and seen a picture of Kate Maltby for the first time – am even less convinced by her story now – what an unattractive lard-bucket she is….)
It does indeed look as if the police officer is covering his politically correct arse as hard as he can doesn’t it? Kate Maltby doesn’t look that bad, definitely not a ‘ten pinter’, but if I was in the market for a woman I’d draw the line at a Guardian writer though, the pillow talk would be too excruciating no matter how good she looked. LOL