3 days ago
GRAHAM GRANT: Drained of credibility by a woke crusade, Police Scotland is now disconnected from the lives of those it serves
You might dimly remember that the police are supposed to be impartial, refusing to take sides in political debate.
But that is a fast-receding memory in Scotland, where officers were told gender-critical campaigners are on a par with Nazis.
As we revealed last week, a dangerously barmy message was circulated within the ranks making the obscene comparison.
It came to light just as top brass were preparing to host a summit with diversity groups about the Supreme Court transgender ruling.
In the best traditions of the single force, the media were kept out and we've no idea, officially, about what went on behind closed doors.
The timing couldn't have been much worse – it's hard to build bridges with people you've just smeared as fascists.
Police officers and staff were told that 'gender binary' - the belief there are only two genders - was a 'key feature' of Nazism.
The identities of the person who sent the memo, or the officers who okayed it, haven't been disclosed - but it was removed from the force intranet and 'advice will be given around the use of language'.
Police Scotland officers were told gender-critical campaigners are on a par with Nazis
Well, that's all right then – but doesn't it seem a woefully inadequate response, given the seriousness of the charge the document contained?
In any sane universe, whoever gave the green light for this inflammatory and grossly offensive document would be sacked, or at the very least severely disciplined, with questions asked about how they passed vetting procedures.
Tory MSP Tess White is pressing the Chief Constable, Jo Farrell, for answers - but so far the force hasn't gone beyond the rather woolly statement about 'advice' on language.
There's a deafening silence, as you would expect, from John Swinney and his colleagues - passionate advocates of the radical transgender policies recently found to have been without legal foundation by the highest court in the land.
The Supreme Court ruling in April stipulated that 'sex' means biological sex under the Equality Act 2010 - which presents something of a challenge for the public sector, including Police Scotland.
Trans ideology is baked into their protocols to comply with SNP government diktats - and now it will have to be rooted out.
Much dragging of feet has ensued - though we're promised a new Police Scotland gender strategy soon, which will make everything crystal clear.
Presumably, it won't repeat the Nazi slur - but who knows? The police position on these issues is hopelessly muddled.
It had to write to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for guidance on whether rapists should be allowed to self-identify as women.
And last month Ms Farrell said police wouldn't be rushed into change in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment, while her deputy Alan Speirs said it had had 'no bearing' on how the force does business.
The Scottish Police Authority, which is supposed to hold the force to account, seemed largely content with this inertia, with some honourable exceptions on the board.
The lack of urgency comes as the United Nations warns against letting criminals choose their own gender, after a new report found that 49 rapists were allowed to identify as female offenders in the UK.
Reem Alsalem, the UN's special rapporteur for violence against women and girls, said at least a third of UK forces were still collecting data on criminals and victims' self-identified gender rather than their assigned sex at birth.
Police Scotland has been accused of misleading parliament over its own policy on recording gender, after any number of apparent flip-flops.
Ms Farrell said last year that a man who commits rape or serious sexual assault will always be recorded as male.
But in March it emerged that this stance - which campaigners said was a major policy U-turn - was not communicated to officers.
With the number of claims of rape and attempted rape soaring to a record level, it's hard to see how any of this will provide reassurance to victims who might be considering whether to report their ordeal to the police.
A woke crusade has drained credibility from a force which seems to be disconnected from the reality of life for those it is supposed to serve.
Outside the sanctuary of police bosses' Zoom chats, gangland and youth violence are spiralling out of control.
A diminished front line is battling this rising tide while police chiefs, who once kowtowed to a legally baseless equalities agenda, are busy trying to reverse out of the cul-de-sac they built for themselves.
On streets where the reek of cannabis fumes is ever-present, young people are being stabbed and addicts are openly injecting drugs, sometimes only yards away from the SNP-backed heroin 'shooting gallery' - which costs us more than £2million a year.
Beat bobbies are rarely seen on patrol and police stations are being sold off, reinforcing the impression that the force is in headlong retreat.
More than 12,000 supposedly 'minor' crimes have been effectively written off under the 'proportionate response' approach, which is good news for criminals - but just another slap in the face for long-suffering victims.
Yet the many mistakes of the SNP as it inflicted swingeing cutbacks on policing have been compounded by the misjudgments of police chiefs who approved this disgraceful abdication of responsibility.
Last month a senior officer broke ranks to suggest that police need to stop 'wasting their time' probing social media posts and get back on the streets to deter crime.
Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, deserves praise for pointing out that it is not the job of police to intervene when people were offended by posts.
He said unless a crime was suspected, officers should be 'nowhere near' social media and must get back into the community to prevent and fight crime.
Mr Hay has previously warned police must be 'pacifists in the culture war' and stay away from the 'divisive, political and toxic nature of some of the debate raging in wider society'.
It's the kind of common sense which Police Scotland badly needs - but it shows no sign of heeding Mr Hay's wise counsel.
For proof, consider the case of Tory MSP Murdo Fraser, whose mocking tweet about the SNP government's transgender policy was logged as a 'hate incident'.
He shared a column which claimed the government's non-binary equality action plan would lead to children being 'damaged by this cult'.
The row over Police Scotland's Nazi claim gives us an insight into the mindset of police chiefs - and makes it easier to see why police would regard an MSP's honestly held view as something akin to a thought crime.
Once again, the only beneficiaries of this absurd shambles are the real criminals who are running riot - while policing is reduced to a laughing stock.
