THE Warrington Guardian reports Cllr David Keane, the police and crime commissioner (PCC) requiring the chief constable (CC) to ‘explore issues linked to domestic and sexual abuse and hate crime and to prioritise a review of recording of misogyny as a hate crime locally as an interim measure’.

This PR stunt is not unconnected with the approaching PCC elections and the second reading of the Private Members Hate Crime (Misogyny) Bill 2019-21 in Parliament later this month.

A reaction by the CC to the PCC’s blandishments would be wrong and the sort of virtue signalling that gives modern policing a bad name.

We’re entitled to live in a country where the law is understood, certain, consistent and uniformly applied.

Misogyny is not a hate crime, yet some forces like Nottinghamshire take it on themselves to record it as such.

Why should any constabulary determine what constitutes misogyny?

Why should someone’s job prospects and life be affected by having their name recorded for a non crime hate incident because they happen to live in Cheshire, while their equally misogynistic brother in another county would be record free?

Since the subject is already proceeding through Parliament any reaction by the CC other than a rejection would be a waste of police time, which is usually a criminal offence and be somewhat ironic for a PCC.

Cllr Keane might wish to reflect on that.

We elect MPs to make laws, not Cllr Keane who is acting outside his job description.

It’s no part of the chief constable’s job description to go off on a fact finding social crusade exercise, gathering information to determine whether something should become a crime.

That’s the sole responsibility of Parliament and any committees and reports they choose to commission, and of course such a bill is already proceeding through the commons.

The CC should be focused on actual crime not dashing off at a tangent at the whim of the PCC.

RICHARD BUTTREY Stockton Heath