Charlie Hebdo sellers should not be asked for readers' details, says top officer
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Version 0 of 1. Police officers should not seek the names of law-abiding Charlie Hebdo readers following the Paris terror attacks, Britain’s most senior counter-extremism officer has said. Sir Peter Fahy, the national police lead for preventing extremism, said he was urgently clarifying guidance to all forces in the UK and acknowledged that it appeared “over-zealous and unnecessary” for officers to ask newsagents to hand over details of the French satirical magazine’s readers. In a letter to the Guardian, Fahy said officers had only visited newsagents to “establish any concerns and provide reassurance” following a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidentsafter the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last month. Related: It was never the police’s intention to monitor sales of Charlie Hebdo | Letters: Chief Constable Peter Fahy and Ruth Brown He said police never intended to monitor sales of the magazine and that there was no national guidance for forces to collect the names of Charlie Hebdo readers from newsagents. Fahy’s statement came after it emerged that some police officers had asked for the details of customers who purchased the magazine from some newsagents during visits to assess community tensions. Fahy said: “Following the attacks in Paris, there has been an increase in incidents of antisemitism and Islamaphobia. Officers have been actively monitoring possible sources of tension and investigating reports of hate crimes. “Forces were aware of the potential for heightened tension with the release of Charlie Hebdo and many neighbourhood police officers, who are well known in their communities, may have opted to visit sellers to establish any concerns and provide reassurance. “It is through work such as this that we learn more about people’s worries and can help to solve problems. Unfortunately, there will always be groups and individuals who try to exploit situations to spread hatred and division. There were people who posted copies of this magazine to mosques just to cause offence. “However, it is important that we do not erode the very freedoms that we are trying to protect. I understand why asking for the names of those who might have bought this magazine will appear over-zealous and unnecessary. There was no national guidance to this effect and it is not to be supported unless there is clear evidence that a crime has been committed.” Guidance to forces issued by the national counter-terrorism policing unit, which has been seen by the Guardian, recommends that visiting Charlie Hebdo stockists may be an option “if there are raised community tension indicators”. Wiltshire police apologised on Monday after admitting that one of its officers had visited a newsagent in Corsham on one of these “reassurance visits” and asked for the names of people who had purchased the magazine. In Presteigne, Wales, a newsagent owner said on Tuesday that police officers spent half an hour asking about Charlie Hebdo – including for the names of those who had bought it from that shop. However, Dyfed-Powys police on Wednesday denied that its officers had asked for “purchaser details” after originally refusing to comment. On Wednesday, it emerged that a UK-based distributor of Charlie Hebdo, John Menzies, had provided police with a list of newsagents that were stocking issues of the magazine. Smiths News, which also distributed the magazine, refused to comment on whether it had passed over information to police. A police source said that, where the names of readers had been taken, it was most likely a case of officers being “over-diligent”. “Nationally, police forces were asked to identify which newsagents were selling the magazine so we could offer them support or advice in case they became the subject of attacks or unwarranted attention,” the source said. “There haven’t been any instructions to follow up on names and addresses. This information would never go on the police national database.” |