Sooo... the time has come to tell a tale.

For several months, one of the most unwell edutwitter trolls was tweeting that I'd received a police caution and various other crazy things. I didn't give it any thought as that troll has often claimed utterly...

...ridiculous things about me.

In June, however, it was brought to my attention that another troll, who was in the habit of reporting anyone who stood up to them to their employer, was claiming to have reported somebody to the police for calling them a troll....

... They claimed that the police "immediately identified it as a malicious on-line communication". They claimed there was an investigation and "the perpetrator knows the consequences".

When I saw this, which seemed like obvious nonsense, I tweeted a screenshot about this...

...complainant, demonstrating exactly why she was indisputably a troll i.e. somebody who was abusive online. But it troubled me that an internet troll might report somebody to the police for saying they were a troll. If that was a crime, pretty much any victim of their...

...trolling, who mentioned it, might be reported to the police.

Then it occurred to me that this same troll once threatened me with libel, and their solicitor had contacted me via an email account that I don't check very often these days...

...and so it occurred to me to search that account for emails mentioning the police.

And sure enough a police constable had emailed me twice in March.

In early March (pre-lockdown) I'd been invited to a voluntary interview following "a report of harassment". Obviously,...

...I'd not seen it until June and hadn't replied. A second email, after lockdown, told me the name of the complainant and gave me "words of advice" about never referring to this troll again and even suggested that if they received further information that I'd caused "alarm or...

...distress" to the complainant I could be arrested.

I immediately deleted that earlier screenshot. I couldn't find any tweet from me mentioning the complainant after the warning had been given so figured I wasn't about to be arrested.

But what I was, was baffled....

...It was very difficult to search my old tweets. I think this might be something to do with having locked my account for much of Lent. But I could not recall anything I had ever said that should be of concern to the police. I had criticised the complainant's behaviour but...

... last I'd heard making true statements about people who are trolling you is not illegal. Not only that, but I'd blocked the complainant and she'd blocked me, which should at least have shown anything I'd said wasn't aimed at her, but aimed at setting the record straight...

... and warning my followers that the complainant had a habit of contacting people's schools/employers if they stood up to her on Twitter.

I emailed back to say this and to ask what I'd done. This led to a phone conversation where the same claims were made by the PC in...

..even more threatening terms. But still nothing was forthcoming about what I'd actually done. Still there seemed to be no evidence that any investigation had taken place. Still there was nothing beyond the bare bones of the fact that somebody who had been abusive to me was...

...upset that I had tweeted about them and that this meant I was in danger of being arrested for harassment.

This was so ridiculous, that I then spent months trying to find out what was going on. In that time, the complainant and her unwell friend, got very bold, and there...

...were dozens of tweets sent referring to how the police had agreed with complaints about me, and I was in all sorts of legal trouble.

On my part, I was doing everything I could to clear my name, which is pretty difficult when you don't actually know what the evidence is....

...against you and Twitter search is not working properly.

And yes, the situation was that ridiculous. I literally did not know what I'd done, other than upset the feelings of the complainant.

So I concentrated on two things. 1) Finding out what I'd done. 2) Finding out...

...what powers or policies entitled the police to tell somebody who had been trolled that they could not criticise the person who trolled them.

I'll start with 1).

I emailed the PC with questions about what I'd done. I got no response. I sent a Subject Access Request...

...and was told that the only information that could be released to me was the emails that I'd already been sent. While I wasn't expecting details of the complainant's accusations, this made no sense if the complaints had been investigated, that there would be no record of...

...what I'd tweeted, no record of the phone call and no record of the warning in the email (the email had literally said "It will also be recorded that you have been warned about this behaviour").

With regard to 2) I went through all the guidance the police have for...

...investigating harassment. Most seemed to imply the police shouldn't give "words of advice" or "warnings". I put in a Freedom of Information request to the relevant police force about their policies and procedures and they could find nothing about giving "words of advice"...

...or warnings about harassment cases other than some not terribly relevant comments about being discouraged from doing this.

During this period I also joined @SpeechUnion and learnt about the Harry Miller case (see below). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-51501202

It would appear there is an ongoing issue with the police getting involved in Twitter disputes without regard to freedom of speech and giving undue weight to complainants, without considering whether the intention is to silence others....

...Anyway, having done my research, even speaking to Harry Miller, I went back to clearing my name.

An email sent to pretty much any group that might oversee the relevant police force, ended up with police standards, and then an inspector.

This inspector still wouldn't...

....tell me what tweets had caused problems but argued against the presumption of free speech and talked up the validity of the accusations (including quoting the definition of harassment) and ignoring most of my questions and referring to the complainant as "the victim"...

...Only after a second email, CCed to @SpeechUnion and Harry Miller, asking exactly what "messages" were harassment and exactly what powers were being used to silence me did I finally get what I needed to know. In an email with a very different tone...

... (there was now a "complainant" not a "victim") did I finally get something useful.

Apparently the complaint of harassment was for a single tweet, which I had RTed, but which the complainant should not have seen me RTing unless she was monitoring me closely.

And, most...

...importantly I was (finally) told:

"no-one is saying you are prohibited from making any public comment at all about the complainant".

Anyway, I have left my correspondence with the police with this...

And that was well over a week ago, so I'm assuming that's the end of it.

But I will say, I believe the complaint made about me was malicious and intended to silence, and the response by @warkspolice was utterly inappropriate and encouraged some pretty awful online behaviour.

I'm also wondering whether it has all contributed to the latest craze on troll edutwitter, where behaviour that has been normal on Twitter for years, is now being described as "harassment", "stalking" and "abuse".

Anyway, be warned: trolls will do anything to silence teachers.

And, I will recommend joining @SpeechUnion to anyone spending a lot of time involved in online controversies.

I'm well aware that this will probably be used to link me to any number of controversial right-wing types.

But free speech should be a concern to all of us.

And, while I don't agree with all the gender critical stuff, I do think @WeAreFairCop and Harry Miller, are doing excellent work challenging the willingness of the police to interfere in what are simply matters of expressing an opinion.