PCC Lisa Townsend on Stephen Ireland and Surrey Police

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2080066/stephen-ireland-predator-policing

'According to Townsend, her concerns about allowing men to ‘self-identify’ as women were met with hostility by Surrey’s then-chief constable Gavin Stephens.
Yet she insists her position was always about safeguarding because, “Whether it’s in custody or a refuge, or being searched by an officer, biological sex matters in policing”.
Within 24 hours of giving an interview to a national newspaper – warning about the risks of trans-inclusive policies – Stephens took to the force intranet to distance himself from her views, declaring: “Trans women are women, and trans men are men.” Worse still, she claims he told her directly: “You have three years to make it up to Stephen Ireland. He’s a friend of Surrey Police.” “In hindsight, it looks incredibly naïve,” she says.
Stephens has since moved on to chair the National Police Chiefs’ Council.'

'Female officers, Townsend said, were too afraid to speak publicly but whispered their support in corridors.
Her office was flooded with cards and flowers from hundreds of women – many thanking her for saying what they couldn’t. But the backlash was coordinated and aggressive.
After an acrimonious meeting between Ireland, Townsend and a local councillor, Pride in Surrey began a campaign to have her removed from office.
...
Under Gavin Stephens, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has updated its guidance to reflect a Supreme Court ruling that sex means biology in law. Stephens has also praised Surrey police for their efforts in bringing Ireland to justice.'

One of the worst things about the gender movement is the support it has had from institutions, organisations and individuals in positions of power, who really should know better if they had half a brain and who have refused to listen to warnings from people who do have a brain.

Stephens has since moved on to chair the National Police Chiefs’ Council. A spokesperson for that organisation claims his intranet comments were context-specific, reflecting “the legal position at the time”.

That is a pile of steaming shit, it was NEVER the legal position which you would expect a very senior Police Officer to know.

Anyone who defended Ireland should have their hard drive checked.

Townsend has encountered ridicule, accusations of bigotry, and active hostility.

People like Ireland and Stephens seem to glide through life, with peer and public esteem and active support. Ireland has been temporarily derailed (I’m always disappointed by how quickly they can make a comeback to public life). Stephens has been appointed to a position of even greater power and status to facilitate more safeguarding harms. The nonsense of his past actions and errors of judgment are seen as politically savvy and not a bar to further progress.

It’s all very dispiriting.

This must call into question the intellectual and ethical credibility of Gavin Stephens and whether he is in any way fit to chair the National Police Chiefs’ Council? It's been evident for a while that there are some deeply dodgy men at the top of the police determined to remove the safety of women in society.

To have a man who's openly befriended and advocated for a convicted child rapist and paedophile now in such a senior position in the police must now generate a serious investigation - that includes a deep dive into relevant hard drives. No wonder there's been so much silence about this case in the media. Presumably influence from powerful forces.

Yes! Who should we write to? Home sec?

Presumably start with our MPs?

Posters on here have been wondering how it was that he was welcomed into a school accompanied by police officers shortly before he was arrested. This article by Malcom Clarke is written by one of the many gay people horrified at how paedophiles are being enabled to operate under the cover of the gay community. It contains some shocking information about how numerous concerns were flagged up about Ireland and dismissed by Surrey council & the police:

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-lgbtq-movement-has-a-paedophile-problem/

One of the worst things about this battle has been the feeling that there's nowhere to turn. It starts when you see the long-established movement for gay and lesbian rights being infiltrated by people with an interest in sexually abusing children. So you turn to the police, and discover that they too have been infiltrated, and will support the abuser rather than the complainant. You turn to charities such as NSPCC but find that they have also been infiltrated and will call you a bigot if you complain. You seek help from human rights organisations such as Amnesty, but guess what, it's the same story. You think that media organisations with a longstanding reputation for uncovering the truth, like the BBC and the Guardian, might help, but no, they're not interested either. You post something on Twitter and get booted off the site. You write to your MP, and your MP replies telling you your concerns are invalid and dissociating themselves from your bigoted views.

The whole thing has been like being in a nightmare.

MrsOvertonsWindow
paedophiles are being enabled to operate under the cover of the gay community

Paedophiles operate under any cover they can get, e.g. as priests or scoutmasters or swimming coaches or new step-dads, or whatever gets them easy access to children.

It's a pity the article in The Critic didn't examine the evolution from a lesbian and gay movement to the 'LGBTQ+ lobby' it criticises.

The TQ+ bit, as the writer knows well, is a recent addition, and the 'LGBTQ+ lobby' he castigates is very different from the LGB movement which preceded it.
He states that there have always been paedophiles around the fringes of gay male communities - PIE, for instance - and no-one would deny that. But child sex abuse was never promoted or even tolerated by the mainstream of the LGB movement, indeed some of the most vocal and effective campaigners against CSA came from within the LGB movement.

I don't know if it was intentional, but when the writer says 'The LGBTQ+ lobby represents a global danger to children' he includes all the LGB people [like me] who have been subsumed against our will into this acronym, including many who have survived sexual abuse, and who have campaigned against, and who have worked to support the survivors of it, for decades.

Never has LGB✂T seemed more pertinent.

This. There are so many parallels with the grooming gang scandal.

Decent people who care for children's safety denounced and abused whilst abusers and their enablers get away scot free. In fact not only are not held to account or sent to prison, but often get promoted and into positions of every more power and opportunity to harm children.

That is, in all seriousness, a good call.

I would just point out that all the people I'm aware of so far that tried to raise the alarm about Stephen Ireland have been women. There were two lesbians in Surrey Pride who tried to get people to listen.

Either this is because 'the worst thing about MVAWG is that it makes men look bad', or it's worse.

Exactly. You can never be completely sure whether the people supporting Ireland and others like him do so because they are also child sex abusers or simply because they are very gullible. But I think it's bound to be the case that some of the police, judiciary, charity executives, politicians etc fall into the first category. The success of these men in infiltrating our institutions has been remarkable.

Janice Turner in the Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/e129671f-79a4-4f3c-96c4-50ded5934574?shareToken=83b2acaca01f156938894ded9a256864

Good to see questions being raised about potential police collusion over all this.

Thank you Janice!

Archive version: https://archive.ph/xMduv

Fine, clear writing, as ever.

Why am I left so sad after reading this. Safeguarding seems to be nothing but rhetoric to those who should be leading its real-world implementation.

A great article, thank you.

It begs the question- how many more times is this going to happen?

Or how many times has it already recently happened and the victim is still trying to work up the courage to go to the police - oh wait - the police are protecting another perpetrator etc etc.

Gavin Stephens clearly has no shame whatsoever as he should have resigned the minute Ireland was convicted - but who in their right mind thought it was appropriate to promote him??? It’s quite mind blowing.

Thanks for the article and archive.

I hadn't heard about the phone before.

'Ireland weaponised the police against his enemies. In 2021, after Lisa Townsend stated that biological sex was important in matters such as crime statistics, police searches and prisons, he posted a photo of an officer sitting in a rainbow police car holding a sign saying “TERFy Townsend not fit for office”. Ireland’s message to anyone who crossed him was: come for me and you deal with the police.
Unsurprisingly, his very public vendetta against Townsend deterred potential whistleblowers (as did chief constable Stephens quickly distancing himself from her views). One writes: “I now feel incredibly guilty for not pursuing my concerns with the police but … I feared being branded transphobic or a bigot.” Yet most suspicions were well grounded. Released on bail, Ireland messaged Sutton telling him to wipe 70,000 texts from the You Are Not Alone phone. The pair were convicted of perverting the course of justice.'

'TERF' used as a weapon there, to silence women who asked too many questions about a paedophile's activities.

Janice nailed it. Police are there to police not to become best mates with organisations that may have a political bias or alternative agenda. The incident demonstrates poor judgement by Surrey Chief Constable Stephens who was totally unaware of a paedophile who was a friend of the force. What was Stephens doing when Ireland led a 17 year old girl around on International Fetish Day? How many police officers thought that was okay?

The Northumbria Chief Inspector needs to think again about her planned participation in Northern Pride. There’s another force that seems to want to everything it can to support trans ideology at the expense of others.

Our police force are there to police and not to become best mates besties with every Tim, Dick and Harry.

What is the Police Standards Group doing to save the reputation of the police and to uphold police behaviour in public office?

I feel I should point out that this article is, in fact, satirical.

The photograph is not.

https://www.suffolkgazette.com/suffolk-police-do-it-doggie-style/