Summary

The Free Speech Union has written to the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police to complain about the arrest of a 16 year-old autistic girl who compared a Women Police Officer to her ‘lesbian nana’. She was told she was being arrested for ‘homophobic hate speech’, but we don’t think her speech meets the criminal offence threshold under the Public Order Act 2006. We also point out that if the girl made the remark to the WPC when they were both in the girl’s home, then the domestic dwelling exemption applies – you cannot be charged with a Public Order offence for saying something to another person in the privacy of your own home. We asked West Yorkshire Police to make it clear that no further action would be taken against the girl and to assure us that a non-crime hate incident would not be recorded against her name in any databases. Shortly after receiving the letter, West Yorkshire Police announced no further action would be taken against the girl.