Met Ordered to Reinvestigate Graham Linehan Arrest
Was this a long-overdue reckoning for years of online harassment or an intolerable case of two-tier policing?
Story
Above: Graham Linehan arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, on April 30. Image credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA Images/Getty Images
The Facts
- The Independent Office for Police Conduct ordered the Metropolitan Police on Wednesday to reinvestigate complaints by comedy writer Graham Linehan over his arrest, ruling the force's own review was "not reasonable and proportionate."
- The IOPC said it received Linehan's review application in May, subsequently finding the Met failed to give satisfactory explanations for the grounds of his arrest and did not pursue lines of inquiry about a complaint concerning his bail conditions.
- The watchdog cited a legal ruling that anti-trans views could count as a protected characteristic, saying the force must establish a rationale for the legality of the arrest, the application of Article 10 free expression rights and the bail conditions.
Sources Split
LEFT
CENTER
RIGHT
+4
+1
ESTAB
CRIT
CENTER
PRO
ESTAB
The Spin
Left narrative
Hiding behind comedy credentials doesn't excuse a years-long campaign of harassment against trans people. The real scandal is a police force too timid to act and a political class too nervous to upset the anti-trans movement, which only enables the abuse to escalate.
Right narrative
Armed officers meeting a traveler at the airport over a handful of social media posts is the kind of policing no free country should tolerate. An apology and a payout mean little when not one officer involved faces any consequence. Gender-critical belief is lawful and protected, and policing it like a crime is exactly the two-tier approach the public keeps being told doesn't exist.
