The woke police/thought police and the actual police perhaps became indistinguishable over the weekend as many U.K. residents saw it, prompting an apology from a law enforcement official, although some might argue that ignorance of the law is no excuse.

A massive social media backlash occurred and is ongoing after the Merseyside police department in northwest England, one of the larger law enforcement agencies in the country, towed around a billboard that read “being offensive is an offence” (using the British spelling of offense).  The slogan was apparently part of an anti-hate crime initiative in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

Martin Earl, the Merseyside police superintendent, subsequently apologized (again, using U.K. spelling) for what he deemed a well-intentioned initiative.

“We would like to clarify that ‘being offensive’ is not in itself an offence,” he said in a statement.  “A message on an ad van and social media this weekend by the Local Policing Team on the Wirral to encourage people to report hate crime although well-intentioned was incorrect and we apologise for any confusion this may have caused. Hate crime is an offence and will not be tolerated…”

Statement from Superintendent Martin Earl regarding a message on an advan and our social media channels this weekend. pic.twitter.com/oyHs9eVtJM

— MerPol Wirral (@MerPolWirral) February 22, 2021

Notwithstanding the apology, Twitter erupted with condemnation of the police virtue signaling from free-speech advocates and  just common-sense individuals who found the police department metaphorically guilty of political correctness.

Many particularly chided the out-of-touch cops for misplaced priorities as compared to their primary mission. Here is just a sampling:

Meanwhile, Same town. Same police force. Same shopping centre. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Boy with huge machete at shopping centre receives no punishment https://t.co/Sg5x5igxwg

— Ollie (@Olle7Ho) February 22, 2021

Are there no problems with gun or knife crime in Merseyside then? https://t.co/ooWgRIBrlz

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) February 22, 2021

Merseyside Police have been forced into a humiliating u-turn: "We would like to clarify that being offensive is not an offence"

The police must start policing actual crimes and stop wasting taxpayers money on this politicised virtue signaling.https://t.co/rL665uRJzu

— The Reclaim Party (@thereclaimparty) February 22, 2021

or you could try to enforce the laws we actually do have re assault, burglary, theft…….

— Steve Mahoney (@stevehmahoney) February 22, 2021

I feel quite offended by this, should I call the Merseyside police? pic.twitter.com/PHyXv4aNTW

— Donald Clark (@DonaldClark) February 22, 2021

If this offends me should I report Merseyside Police to themselves or my local constabulary?

— Nicolas Ashby (@AshbyNicolas) February 22, 2021

Merseyside Police are known wokeist morons – only the Met is more ridiculous

— Vic Jones #bollockstobrussels (@mustyqueer1) February 22, 2021

Hey @MerPolCC I am offended by a message from Merseyside Police, who do I report it to?

— Trevor Alan Bell (@TrevorAlanBell) February 22, 2021

Merseyside Police, what an absolute JOKE of an organisation. This is what our tax £££ go towards.

Someone needs to be sacked. pic.twitter.com/PjLQhza4X9

— Jonny (@super_clarky) February 22, 2021

https://twitter.com/TheCurran73/status/1363798076528427010

Merseyside Police have backed down on there threatening placard.
Shows you how the idiotic wokerati could be dealt with when you see what could be achieved if MSM and Social Media teamed up.

— Alison Parr (@Uptotherewithit) February 22, 2021

Is it really? It’s usually unnecessary to be offensive, and it’s might be considered unpleasant, but I wasn’t aware that it’s actually against the law. Still, on the plus side, the crisis in Police numbers must be over, if they have time for this.

— Stephen Jenkins (@StephenJenkins1) February 21, 2021

Utterly chilling. In a free society the right to be offensive is fundamental. This isn't North Korea! pic.twitter.com/FJgTn3OLsc

— CJ (@CJ_liberte) February 21, 2021

This isn’t good enough. How precisely were precious police resources squandered in this way & on whose authority? Who gave you this erroneous advice?

Surely it’s not too much to expect law enforcement to actually know the law & not grossly misrepresent it.

This is a joke. https://t.co/zTis5n80E6

— Allison Bailey (@BluskyeAllison) February 22, 2021

Meanwhile police forces are saying they don’t have enough officers to investigate burglaries, car thefts. Don’t the victims of those crimes warrant sensitive & appropriate support?

— Jac Harris (@sy1_iol) February 22, 2021

Exactly: who was responsible for this and how did it happen? Lessons must be learned here: people are being confused and losing trust in the police.

— Ellpeas 👀 (@ellpeas) February 22, 2021

I’m so embarrassed that this is my local police.

But then you allowed a traveller to physically assault me when I saw them boot the shit out of a dog, and tried to rescue it. I guess I should already have very low standards for you.

— Mandi Roberts Ⓥ💚 (@She_RaRoberts) February 22, 2021

If your police force has hours to spend on a weekend misrepresenting the law entirely, maybe they can arrange to spend a few more hours on re-training and ‘public talks’ on reassuring us we don’t live in some authoritarian nightmare?

— Sen ♘ (@Sentenren) February 22, 2021

This brand of student politics by police officers who should know better is destroying the reputation of the British police force.

— Tony Greenhalgh (@greenhalgh_tony) February 22, 2021

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Robert Jonathan

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Robert@bizpacreview.com

Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”

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