Farcical scenes on the Wirral, where the police have apologised for a billboard reading “BEING OFFENSIVE IS AN OFFENCE”. Superintendent Martin Earl announced that this alarming declaration “although well-intentioned was incorrect.” Earl stressed, at some length, the importance of combatting hate, the outstanding credentials of the local “Hate Crime Co-ordinators”, and so on, but made sure to “clarify that ‘being offensive’ is not in itself an offence.” Nevertheless, it raises a question: Where on earth did Wirral Police get such a strange idea in the first place?
Do the police know the difference between offensive and offence?
