The Thin Pink Line podcast, released by The National LGBT+ Police Network on the gloriously named IDAHOBIT Day, sits in the broadcasting tradition of the late William Joyce, whose popular alter ego, Lord Haw Haw, coined the witty catchphrase, “Germany Calling.”

The National LGBT Police Network (henceforth referred to as The Network) is working in tandem with the European Gay Police Association (EGPA) and the European wing of the International Gay, Lesbian,Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe), The Network is committed to raising the Rainbow Flag throughout all member states, not as an occasional act of solidarity with those who sit outside heteronormativity but as the ensign of an ideological super-power. The manifesto includes criminalising any discourse in public, in private and in schools that is critical of gender ideology. In Rainbow Europe, Safe Schools Alliance and Transgender Trend would be classed as organised crime gangs. Fair Cop would be elevated to terrorists.

It’s amazing what the police can get away with in the name of human rights

When Alain Parmantier, the President of EGPA, announced on The Thin Pink Line that it is the role of the police to build a society that is fair, he repositioned the police as social engineers working to the architectural blueprint of the European Commission. The Commission’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, recently stated that “LGBTQI free zones are humanity free zones,” which frames a nation state’s resistance to gender ideology on an ideological par with the socio-political conditions that gave rise to the Holocaust. 

Nancy Kelley, the Stonewall Chief, reaffirmed the humanity-free trope when she likened gender critics to anti-semites. The response to this by The Network was to close ranks and tweet. “We Stand For Stonewall.” In other words, The Network is part of a multi-agency cartel comprising EU politicians, political pressure groups, and foreign police forces, and each one has the other one’s back. Not unlike OCGs, it operates across county lines and country borders.

Long after the collapse of the GDR, the Stasi broadcaster, Joesph von Schnitzel, described the Berlin Wall as the most useful construction in all European history. “The wall was necessary to defend a threatened nation. Erich Miekle [Head of The Stasi]  was a living example of the most humane human being”, said Schnitzel, which should prompt one of those handy German sticklebrick words, combining unspeakably evil tyrant with noble humanitarian. 

It’s amazing what the police can get away with in the name of human rights. The Network manages to pass off its collusion with the agents of a foreign state under the auspices of The Police Act 2002, since when constables have been required to uphold human rights in addition to the law. The multiple locus of control poses a problem if one’s political ideology is more in line with von Der Leyen than it is with the will of Parliament. Perhaps a useful arbiter of the philosophical moral conundrum would be the College of Policing, which pockets an annual £50 million of government money to nominally fulfil that role. Conveniently for Rainbow Europe, The College denies all responsibility for oversight of The Network. 

The Network claims to have constables in all regions across the UK but putting names, ranks and numbers to the membership is tricky. The College insists that enquiries should be directed to The Network. The Network refuses to even acknowledge any request. And individual forces cite Section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act to maintain the smoke screen.

The multiple locus of control poses a problem if one’s political ideology is more in line with von Der Leyen than it is with the will of Parliament

What we know of The Network’s workings is the result of piecing together clues from social media. We know, for instance, that The Network executive includes T/Commander Clinton Blackburn of City of London Police and Deputy Chief Constable Julie Cooke of Cheshire. Both of these senior ranked officers are avowed activists in the pan-European drive to extend hate speech law to include any criticism of gender politics. Cooke considers a failure to respect pronouns to be a violation of human rights and Blackburn describes political opponents as hateful troublemakers. In response to those expressing indignation at its stance on the inclusion of trans-identified males in women’s sports, The Network tweeted: “We see you, we have reported you.”

One is reminded of a story in Anna Funder’s Stasiland – Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall. Julia, a bright and talented linguist, cannot understand why her job applications are repeatedly rejected, despite being highly qualified and making a good impression at interview. Only when she is called for interrogation at a local Stasi HQ does she realise that the cause of her ongoing unemployment is an indeterminate non-crime hate incident placed on her record by the police. “We see you, we have reported you” is straight from the Stasi playbook. The College of Policing entirely approves of this practice, having defended it in March at The Court of Appeal. We await the ruling. 

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The National LGBT+ Policing Network and The Thin Pink Line is available for download at: https://faircop.org.uk/ThinPinkLine