A former police officer in the UK has had his thoughts “checked” by police claiming to represent the LGBTQ community.

Humberside Police tracked Harry Miller to his place of work, after acquiring 30 tweets, including a number of limericks that he had “Liked” from his personal account.

According to the officer, Miller had not committed a crime by “Liking” the tweets, but the event was still to be recorded as a “hate incident.”

After being subject to a 30-minute police inquiry, Miller was warned to watch his words or risk losing his job, as potential LGBTQ employees would not have a “safe place” if they decided to work for Miller.

Following the incident, Miller posted a series of tweets detailing the account:

Got a call from Director, saying cops wanting to speak to me. He’d had sense not to give out my number, but said he’d pass on details. I rang.

Spoke to PC from Humberside, introduces himself as representing the LGBTQ community on a report of hate speech by me. They found me via my company, had been all over the website and decided if I employed trans people at all, it was not a safe place for them and work should know.

Cop said he was in possession of 30 tweets by me. I asked if any contained criminal material. He said…. No. I asked if any came close to being criminal… and he read me a limerick. Honestly. A limerick. A cop read me a limerick over the phone.

I said, I didn’t write that. He said, “Ah. But you Liked it and promoted it.” I asked why he was wasting his time on a non-crime. He said, “It’s not a crime, but it will be recorded as a hate incident.”

So, I’ve added to a statistic, even though there is no crime, which brings me to my next point. The cop repeatedly called the complainant “the victim.” I asked how there could be a victim if, as he’d established, there was no crime. He said, that’s just how it works.

My comment was that by framing the complainant as “victim”, this made me by default, “criminal.” I asked him to desist from using it.

This is where it gets incredibly sinister. The cop told me that he needed to speak with me because, even though I’d committed no crime whatsoever, he needed (and I quote) “to check my THINKING!” Seriously. Honest.

Finally, he lectured me. Said, “Sometimes, a woman’s brain grows a man’s body in the womb and that is what transgender is.” You can imagine my response…

Lastly, he told me that I needed to watch my words more carefully or I was at risk of being sacked by the company for hate speech. At which point, I wished him well and said I needed to go rinse my socks.

Humberside Police have encouraged the public to report “hate crimes” saying, by reporting hate crimes when they happen, it “will help us to deal with it and may prevent these incidents from happening to someone else.”

“You will also help us understand the extent of hate crime in your local area so we can better respond to it,” the website goes on to say.

According to Humberside Police a “hate crime” is anything that you THINK might have been motivated by hostility or prejudice. To become a “victim” of a hate crime, you don’t have to be the “target” – you simply have to witness someone being “targeted” and you’re granted “victim” status.

The website states: “The definition of a Hate Crime is if the victim or anyone else think it was motivated by hostility or prejudice towards that person’s age, disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender identity. This can be committed against a person or property. A victim does not have to be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted. In fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.”