Police apologised to Dale McAlpine, a Christian street preacher, in October after threatening him with arrest and forcing him to leave Bath city centre earlier in the year.
Avon and Somerset Police contacted all police staff in Bath ‘to ensure that they understand the importance of freedom of expression’.
Hate crime?
They had issued a dispersal notice and ordered Mr McAlpine and a group of street preachers to leave the city centre. One of the officers claimed they were committing a ‘hate crime’, and two police vehicles came to the scene with lights flashing. A police spokesman said: ‘Instead of dispersing [the group] I would have expected that my officers would have remained at the location to protect the right of your client’s group to free speech.’ He added that the only people ‘in danger from the angry crowd’ would have been the preachers.
