𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Police must stop arresting people for offensive tweets and focus on catching criminals, Shabana Mahmood told chief officers.

The Home Secretary, who admitted the 43-force model has created a “postcode lottery”, told Chief Constables “we should not be policing perfectly legal language” on social media.

Ms Mahmood announced that the former director of public prosecutions Lord MacDonald will review the use of police powers around protests and social media.

She told the National Police Chiefs’ Council annual conference: “Clearly, there have been egregious examples of disproportionate arrests. Where necessary, we will legislate to clarify what is inside and outside the law. But we must also be honest, some of these recent arrests raise questions about police decision-making.

“So let me state my position on the issue clearly: The public rightly expect that we police our streets. There is most certainly criminality online. Some things cannot be legally tweeted, just as they cannot be legally said. But we should not be policing perfectly legal language in any individual’s tweets.

A white paper is due to be published in the coming weeks outlining government plans for police reform, with forces facing a £1.2 billion budget shortfall.

Speaking at the National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners summit, Ms Mahmood said: “The structure of our police forces is, if we are honest, irrational.

“We have loaded critical functions like the national police air service and vetting onto local forces, drawing attention away from neighbourhood policing.

“We have 43 forces tackling criminal gangs who cross borders, and the disparities in performance in forces across the country have grown far too wide, giving truth to the old saw that policing in this country is a postcode lottery.”

She said the adoption of new technology is “piecemeal”, and that many forces are dependent on the same systems that have been used for decades.

Last week, the Home Secretary announced that the former director of public prosecutions Lord MacDonald will review the use of police powers around protests and social media.

Ms Mahmood told delegates: “The public rightly expect that we police our streets.

“There is most certainly criminality online.

“Some things cannot be legally tweeted just as they cannot be legally said, but we should not be policing perfectly legal language in any individual’s tweets.”

Ms Mahmood told a conference of police leaders “the structure of our police forces, if is, if we are honest, irrational”.

Mahmood said “disparities in performance” meant that policing in England and Wales was a “postcode lottery”.

Police chiefs have already called for radical reform of the 43-force structure in England and Wales, backing a system with fewer, larger forces.

Speaking after the conference on Wednesday afternoon, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council Gavin Stephens said the existing 43-force structure is no longer affordable.

Ms Mahmood told them: “The structure of our police forces is, if we are honest, irrational.

“We have loaded critical functions like the national police air service and vetting onto local forces, drawing attention away from neighbourhood policing.

“We have 43 forces tackling criminal gangs who cross borders, and the disparities in performance in forces across the country have grown far too wide, giving truth to the old store that policing in this country is a postcode lottery.”