TOP COP WARNS OFF SNOWFLAKES

‘We don’t have the cash to arrest wolf-whistlers’

A POLICE chief has warned senior officers there is not enough cash to investigate “anti-women hate crimes” such as wolf-whistling.

Chief Constable Sara Thornton gave her reality check when opening a conference of the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police Crime Commissioners.

She urged a planned Law Commission review to realise how stretched police were when it considers making hostility against women a hate crime and a matter that police should record.

She said forces should concentrate instead on real crimes such as burglary and knife attacks, adding: “We must focus on catching burglars and violent offenders rather than recording incidents that are not crimes.”

Anti-women behaviour includes unwanted sexual advances, sexuallyexplicit language, following women, online abuse, and wolf-whistling.

Ms Thornton said: “We are asked to provide more and more bespoke services that are all desirable – but the simple fact is there are too many desirable and deserving issues. Treating misogyny as a hate crime is a concern for some organisations. In July, chiefs debated whether we should record such allegations even when no crime is committed.

“We don’t have resources to do everything that is desirable and deserving.”

Ms Thornton was also “unconvinced” that time should be spent investigating allegations against the dead. She added: “They cannot be priorities for a service that is over-stretched.”

Home Secretary Sajid Javid told the conference crime had “changed faster than we could ever have imagined”. He acknowledged forces were “feeling stretched” and pledged to ensure they have resources they need in 2019/20.