Jennifer Swayne arrested for stickering.

[Thelnebriati]

Jennifer Swayne has been arrested on charges of vandalism, ‘hate crimes’ and public order offences. Police searched her house and removed several sheets of stickers.

twitter.com/WeAreFairCop/status/1485304357293891588

Jenni has found something that looks like a search warrant in her house.

"Search with prior written authority of an inspector" is ticked.

"To secure evidence relating to the offence."

"Any material of a transphobic nature that looks like it can be used in commission of a hate crime."

Do Gwent Police not understand the law? Do they think 'hate crime' is anything that the groups mentioned in the legislation feel unhappy about, and anything directed at any other sections of the community no matter how public, or aggressive or threatening is OK?

It's like those idiots who think having the protected characteristic of gender reassignment under the Equality Act 2010 means that if you say you are trans nobody is able to stop you doing whatever, or going wherever, you want or criticise anything you do or say.

They seem to think that hate is a one way street for one very specific group of folx. Why is this - who told them?

Having spent my entire career making books and information freely available I am very concerned about the removal of any book or other published material by the police.

I work in a very small specialist collection so I'm a bit clueless about large issue systems, but:

Anyone know what data public or academic libraries keep on what readers borrow/who has borrowed what?
Do you know how to delete such records quickly?

Because this is seriously scary stuff with horrible implications for anyone who cares about freedom of speech/information.

Known individuals have been reported to the police. I've seen it on twitter. Nothing has been done.

I have a vague recollection that in the US, librarians refused to comply with an order to hand over that data. In the UK security services and police would presumably need a warrant to ask for it, but they don't seem to have any difficululty getting warrants.

Oh, where's the MRA post I quoted gone?

Anyone know what data public or academic libraries keep on what readers borrow/who has borrowed what?
Do you know how to delete such records quickly?

You can check who has borrowed a particular book using the book record or see all the books a particular person has borrowed in the past. To obtain that information requires a request from a certain rank of police officer and that formal request must go to a Senior Librarian for the area. You couldn’t have a PC rock up to a library and ask the library assistant to pull up the details of all the people who have borrowed X book, for instance. You’d normally come across these requests if a library book was found in the possession of someone who had died, as an example, and there was no other ID with the body. It was part of our training that even in these circumstances we could not pull up the record of the book to find out who had it out.
As for how to delete - not sure it’s possible, without deleting the borrower record completely and I’m afraid I can’t remember what form the ex borrower ID then takes in the list of previous borrowers which remains in the database.
No one at the counter of a public library should be giving details to random police officers who request them, not even if they wave their warrant card at you.

Do they think 'hate crime' is anything that the groups mentioned in the legislation feel unhappy about

To be fair, this is pretty much the dfinition of a non-crime hate incident. Only it doesn't need to be someone from any group, anyone can report one. Not sure if this has changed since FairCop's recent win, though.

"Any material of a transphobic nature that looks like it can be used in commission of a hate crime."

Is there an agreed legal definition of transphobia? Is possessing material which could be used in the commission of a hate crime an offence? Do I need to hide my kitchen knives in case someone locally gets stabbed? WTF are they smoking?

Placemarking so I know when to get my shovel out...

@FOJN

"Any material of a transphobic nature that looks like it can be used in commission of a hate crime."

Is there an agreed legal definition of transphobia? Is possessing material which could be used in the commission of a hate crime an offence? Do I need to hide my kitchen knives in case someone locally gets stabbed? WTF are they smoking?

Great post. It is now illegal to be a feminist and to educate yourself with non Gwent Police approved material. Somebody should do a foi on how many twitter accounts got blocked by their various pages today.

Is there an agreed legal definition of transphobia

According to the EHRC there's not an agreed definition of transgender, so....

I took it from her fb, I'm friends with her. Don't know her but she's one of the terven crew.

@MarciaDidia sorry

@WarriorN

Is there an agreed legal definition of transphobia

According to the EHRC there's not an agreed definition of transgender, so....

Well, that's dumped us all into a non-verifiable nightmare of personal interpretation.

Exactly what we're looking for within a legal framework where being arrested for some offences will be recorded and will affect your civic standing and ability to apply for some professions or jobs in general. Even to travel to other countries.

Splendid.

Are the Gwent police going to issue an approved list of books that women may read without risking being accused of studying for the committing of a crime?

I thought the other thread was joking, but apparently being born female in this country renders you open to such things and as no one knows wtf transphobia actually is and we appear to have entered some 1930s Germany phase in the UK, I can hardly be expected to work out for myself what is and is not appropriate. I only have a lady-brain after all.

"Did the anti-lockdown razor story really happen?"

"The BBC’s fact-checkers just can’t cut it"

thecritic.co.uk/did-the-anti-lockdown-razor-story-really-happen/

What is the motivation for all this apparent nonsense?

Do Gwent police really want to jail a woman of an age where she is about to hit her prime, has mental health challenges (which sound like they require careful management) and mobility issues? I mean, yes, if she had been violent, a danger to society, brought down the banking system...but, for stickers saying "please don't kill women"?

How is it in the public interest to spend this amount of money on this "case"?

Why on earth are they doubling down on social media, adding rumours of Sharp Things and escalating it?

It makes no sense.

This is a good article. I do wonder if the woman involved would have a case of defamation against Gwent Police now they've linked her arrest with the illusive 'sharp objects' in their press statement. Seems a quite deliberate and poisonous thing to do and of course BBC and Itv have cut and pasted the press release verbatim. Now there are people all over twitter accusing her of this directly due to the press release.
grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/the-razor-blades-libel?r=8on6j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

The trans stickerist who Glinner reveals probably made the complaint about sharps behind stickers, says the following on Twitter:
@N3KOcardiff
update: not arrested, no trouble, police have no issue with me covering up/removing transphobia!
plus, some of the officers I spoke to actually seem to like my stuff, which was a surprise :)

ALSO..
GC twitter: "STFU TERF" is violence against women!
also GC twitter: threatening violence against me...
It's a meme, nobody with two brain cells thinks Lily from Zombieland Saga with a bb gun is legitimately threatening violence...

Then the police have one cell between than as they think posters and books about safeguarding women and children is literal violence worthy of arrest...

It's a meme, nobody with two brain cells thinks Lily from Zombieland Saga with a bb gun is legitimately threatening violence...

So? Don't post threatening things to women, it's misogyny. I can only imagine the melodrama if someone went round posting figures with guns saying STFU to trans people. You know it wouldn't go down well.

@WarriorN

Then the police have one cell between than as they think posters and books about safeguarding women and children is literal violence worthy of arrest...

Do you think Morris and Brunskill-Evans are quietly thrilled or furious at being considered authors of a dangerous text?

And, tbh, I'm not sure of the sequencing, WarriorN. Is the book retrospective evidence that Gwent Police consider that they were right to arrest JS?

I'll be deeply interested in whether the CPS or whomever it is decides to proceed with charges and to what use the seized book (and notes) will be put in shoring up any case to answer.

This is a picture of a broken phonebox which the good individual from Cardiff has been decorating and turning into a community library. A noble endeavour but I am intrigued what message is intended by the "free speech, free protest, free people" poster placed on the exterior of the phone box.

Also the "ACAB". "ACAB Except When I Call Them About Other People Protesting"?