UK: Police seek to assign probation officer to journalist who ‘misgendered’

Surrey Police are reportedly seeking permission from a judge to assign a probation officer to a journalist accused of “misgendering” and monitor all her communications.

Caroline Farrow, a journalist and mother of five, was the subject of a five-month-long police investigation in 2019 for opinions she expressed on social media regarding gender disorientation. According to Farrow, her chief crime was “misgendering” — referring to someone by their gender and not the gender they claim to be.

Last year, Farrow was arrested in her home for “malicious communications and harassment” while she was making dinner for her children. Photos provided by Farrow show police forcing their way into her house. When she asked to see a warrant, they replied, “We don’t need one.” Police seized several electronic devices, including from her husband’s parish next door. They then brought Farrow outside where a female officer subjected her to a body search and took her to the station.

Police did not deny the allegations.

Farrow says she did not post the offending content, and filed a civil complaint against Surrey Police.

On Wednesday, Farrow reported that police have now filed a request with a judge to assign to her a probation officer — or “offender manager” — who will monitor all her communications and electronic devices. She says police did not provide her with documentation before the hearing so that she would come unprepared.

The journalist says that police reference several times in the complaint that Farrow “misgendered”.

If the Surrey Police’s request is granted by the court, Farrow will be required to first seek written approval from her offender manager before using any social media, social networking, or gaming site. She will need to provide the officer with all her logins and passwords.

Farrow will also be required to allow police officers to enter her home between 8 AM and 8 PM “to conduct a risk assessment, monitor devices, and manage compliance of the order”.

She would also need to supply her offender manager “with any mobile, digital, or internet enabled devices for examination, review, and monitoring purposes, immediately upon request” along with the PINs and passwords to access them. If she fails to disclose the possession of any device, it “will count as a failure to comply with this condition”.

Farrow will also be required to re-register her home address at a police station every 12 months.

“I believe that the police are wanting to destroy my life without anyone knowing about it,” tweeted the journalist, adding that she is “being treated like a terrorist”.

“I do have to be very careful about what I say. The evidence in this case consists of my tweets and 39 screengrabs of a twitter feed, downloaded from my laptop, stored for litigation purposes. No memes,” she wrote separately.

A police officer wrote in the filing: “She has shown no remorse and whilst admitting to all the posts she does not believe that what she has done is wrong.”

Farrow's is the latest report of British authorities cracking down on criticism of gender-disoriented individuals.

In December, UK Metropolitan Police summoned James Goddard to a meeting due to an offending social media post, according to a letter shared by British freedom activist Laurence Fox. 

In the letter, Metro Police cite Goddard’s Twitter handle and describe the post: 

“On the 4th of August 2022 you posted a tweet on your Twitter account @Goddard2066. This tweet contains a video of Wembley Way and commentary from you regarding the rainbow ‘pride’ flags which represent the LGBTQ community. 

“These comments are targeting specifically the LGBTQ community would be considered ‘grossly offensive’ thus being in contravention 127 of the Malicious Communication Act 2003.” 

The officer who penned the letter, identified as PC Gordon of the MO6 Public Order Crime Team, demanded a “voluntary interview":

“I therefore require you to contact me to arrange a voluntary interview so this matter can be further investigated. This interview can be conducted near to your home address and I would suggest a mutually convenient date in early January 2023. 

“If I do not hear from you within 10 days from the date of this letter an evidential case file may be submitted for consideration of prosecution.” 

In July, a decorated British war veteran was arrested for “malicious communications” after police received a complaint about one of his social media posts. The offending post showed a swastika made of rainbow flags, a commentary on the state-sponsored intimidation of citizens to embrace same-sex attraction and gender disorientation. 

Ironically, the post was validated when the veteran, referred to as “Darren” in a video of the incident, was ordered to pay £60 for a Community Awareness Course. Authorities told the man the purpose of the course was to “reeducate” him.