Top cop only kneels before Queen, God... and his wife
ONE of Britain’s most senior police chiefs said he would never take the knee in uniform because he fears it undermines impartiality.
Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) Stephen Watson said the public was “getting fed up of virtue-signalling police officers” and would “rather we just locked up burglars”.
Asked about officers taking part in Black Lives Matter protests, Mr Watson, 52, said he “absolutely would not” take the knee in uniform.
Instead, the GMP Chief Constable stressed he “would probably kneel before the Queen, God and Mrs Watson, that’s it”.
He also said he was concerned about the creation of new “hate crimes” that could overwhelm police as they “sought to criminalise what people think”.
Mr Watson said the level of “woke” policing has passed a “high-water mark” of tolerance from the public, who would rather see officers catching criminals.
He said: “I do not think that things like taking the knee, demonstrating that you have a commonality of view with the protesters that you’re policing, is compatible with the standards of service that people require of their police.”
He also said the impartiality of officers could be undermined if they supported specific groups, such as wearing rainbow shoelaces for LGBT rights charity Stonewall.
Mr Watson took over from Ian Hopkins, who stood down in December following a report that revealed the force had failed to record 80,000 crimes properly.
‘They’d rather we just locked up burglars’