Will the police now re-focus on crime?

[vladi]

The recent incident at Heathrow, when 5 armed police arrested  Graham Linehan for his tweet on X, makes many of us wonder about the priorities of the police

In  2024, just under 130,000 cars were reported stolen and many of these were shipped over seas or stripped for parts. At Felixstowe, Britain's busiest post, there is only a singe police officer who monitors out-going containers.  Going out of the post also was some of the 116,000 mobile phones stolen last year.

Then there's shop lifting.........

[Sephiroth]

So if I assault you, punch you in the balls, perhaps with permanent damage, you will tell everyone “bigger crime mate. Don’t worry about this guy “

sure 

culture war nonsense 

[vladi]

There's no comparison.

Linehan's tweet is, at worst, a "non-violent hate crime". What you have speculated  about is clearly a physical assault or GBH.

[Sephiroth]

Punching people in the balls in bathrooms is non-violent now is it? 
 

because that’s what  Linehan tweeted 

[malumbu]

It's standard procedure when a suspect arrives at the airport.

It was obviously a quiet news day.  And it wasn't funny what he said.  Why did he feel compelled to say anything at all?

We will let the adults sort it out, Chief Constables, Commissioners and the government.

[ianr]

53 minutes ago, vladi said:

The recent incident at Heathrow, when 5 armed police arrested  Graham Linehan for his tweet on X, makes many of us wonder about the priorities of the police

The Met Commisssioner is quoted in today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/03/met-police-chief-calls-for-review-of-law-after-graham-linehan-arrest

“Most reasonable people would agree that genuine threats of physical violence against an identified person or group should be acted upon by officers. Such actions can and do have serious and violent real-world implications.

“But when it comes to lesser cases, where there is ambiguity in terms of intent and harm, policing has been left between a rock and a hard place by successive governments who have given officers no choice but to record such incidents as crimes when they’re reported. Then they are obliged to follow all lines of inquiry and take action as appropriate.

“I don’t believe we should be policing toxic culture wars debates and officers are currently in an impossible position. I have offered to provide suggestions to the Home Office on where the law and policy should be clarified.” [end]

In this case, even taking into account the "obliged to follow all lines of enquiry", I do wonder whether initial enquiry could have been satisfactorily conducted (and then maybe concluded)  without arrest.

Hopefully, whatever,  his input will help tuning the system.   There are circumstances that come to mind -- perceived over-enthusiasm of police in one force to crack down on travel during the early Covid days, or excessive reaction to a tweeter in earlier days -- where their responses have, after public reaction, shown signs of becoming better informed, restrained and regulated.  I think that'll likely always be a possible pattern.