A video shared on Facebook claims British police officers were purportedly threatening to arrest Christian preachers for causing potential “harassment.”

Verdict: False

Posts shared on YouTube and X indicate the police were investigating purported homophobic comments. A spokesperson for the London Metropolitan Police Department denied the claim’s validity in an email to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Dino Atkins Tyler, a detective constable with the London Metropolitan Police, has been “dismissed without notice” after crystal meth was discovered in his home, according to the East London Advertiser. In addition to pleading guilty to possession of a Class A drug, he will be added to the Barred List by the College of Policing, which prevents him from being “employed by police” in the future, the outlet reported.

“British police are advising Christian preachers to leave or they will be arrested because they could ’cause harassment, alarm and distress,’ which is a ‘criminal offence [sic],'” the video’s caption purports. The video opens with a police officer informing the preachers that they could be committing criminal offenses. One of the preachers then explains they are sharing their Christian faith, citing the Bible verse, John 3:16. Other officers then appear in the frame asking the preachers to provide their names.

The claim is false, however. A longer version of the interaction shared on YouTube indicates the police were investigating purported homophobic comments. A post shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the London Metropolitan Police Department corroborates the claim made in the YouTube video. The post features a photo of a call transcript. “‘They are saying ‘homosexuality is an abomination,'” part of the call transcript reads. (RELATED: No Evidence NATO Behind Attack On Russian Warship)

The headline also suggests that if we get a report from “just ONE member of the public” we shouldn’t respond as we did.

We think many people would disagree and we’ve taken the unusual step of publishing the initial call log below, showing what officers were responding to, so… pic.twitter.com/jTwU9wUNIt

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 15, 2024

Likewise, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. In fact, the opposite is true. Reuters also debunked the claim in a Mar. 7 article.

Furthermore, a spokesperson for the London Metropolitan Police Department denied the claim’s validity in an email to Check Your Fact.

“Officers were responding to a report from a member of the public that a group of people were making racist and homophobic comments. The Met does not tolerate hate crime and officers responded to investigate this,” the spokesperson said.

“We have watched the body-worn video of the full exchange. It is 50 minutes long. This showed officers informed the group of the allegations, explained what constitutes a hate crime, and asked them what they had been discussing. There were no arrest[s],” the spokesperson added.