Police in the United Kingdom recently introduced a fleet of rainbow cars to encourage people to report hate crimes. Deputy Chief Constable Julie Cooke said in an Instagram post, “the rainbow cars, the hate crime cars, whatever we want to call them, they are part of our vehicle fleet.”
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Cooke also stated that the cost of painting the cars with rainbows is “quite minimal but the confidence that it can bring, by just having that rainbow on there, and people say to me, you know, the impact of seeing the rainbow is so huge.” She went on to say, “if something is happening that you know isn’t right, then we absolutely want you to come forward. It is there to try and give confidence to our LGBT+ community, but also to other underrepresented groups.”
Former U.K. police officer Harry Miller slammed the decision to put rainbow cars on the street, stating, “they are painting rainbows on their cars when we have figures showing that only 7% of violent crime ends in prosecution. They have moved from policing crime to policing thoughts and speech because it is easier.”
Miller also told The Telegraph, “We don’t see the Met with special cars for knife crime, even though the number of stabbings in London is appalling. The problem is that the second that you see a rainbow car, you know that it is a police force that has made its mind up about some very contentious issues. You no longer see a police car or a police officer who is there to support everyone, from all political persuasions, without fear or favor. They have literally tied their colors to the mast and painted their cars with their political leanings.”
According to The Telegraph, hate crime reports in the U.K. have more than doubled in recent years. At the same time, violent crime has increased across the country. According to The Independent, the number of stabbing incidents has increased dramatically amid a reduction in police budgets and the overall number of officers.
Individuals targeted in social media postings have been the source of many reported hate crimes. A record of the allegation is retained as a “hate incident” in cases where no crime has been committed. Even though no crime was committed, these “incidents” will still appear on some criminal history checks.
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