Dyfed-Powys Police upholds professional standards complaint from CAA after officer said antisemitism was just “an opinion”
Dyfed-Powys Police in Wales has upheld a professional standards complaint from Campaign Against Antisemitism over the way that antisemitic e-mails were dismissed as just “stating an opinion” by one of the force’s officers.
Dyfed-Powys Police has confirmed to Campaign Against Antisemitism that it is reopening the case and recording the incident as a hate crime under the Malicious Communications Act. They have formally apologised saying they “completely share the concerns you raised.”
The Divisional Detective Inspector in the Pembrokeshire Division has been asked to review the crime and appropriately allocate the necessary resources to investigate.
When discussing an allegation against Daniel Davies, the owner of Tribestan UK, for the antisemitic e-mails sent to an Israeli man who attempted to order items from the company, Campaign Against Antisemitism was told that the matter would merely be recorded as a hate incident rather than a hate crime. When pressed on this, the officer said that he had reviewed the complaint, and that it would be recorded as the less serious matter, as the e-mails were simply “stating an opinion”.
One of the e-mails sent by Tribestan UK stated: “Unfortunately Jews have negativity on our businesses. Do you know why? Because Jews rip us off! Jews f*** us up!”
A second e-mail sent a short while later stated: “We don’t ship to Israel because the Jews rob us! Sorry but that’s a fact. They scam the world.”
Mr Davies claimed that “our e-mail got hacked via wifi over a business phone”, which is a common excuse that we have heard from other companies that have sent antisemitic messages that they later claimed were the work of hackers.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is providing legal support to the recipient of the e-mails so that a civil claim can be brought against the company.
At a time when British Jews are threatened by levels of antisemitism unprecedented in the UK since the end of the Second World War, effective law enforcement is a vital deterrent. Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Dyfed-Powys Police for recognising its initial failure in this matter and remedying it by reopening the investigation.
