Murdo has expressed his delight that Police Scotland has apologised to him following a row over a social media post.
Back in 2003, he posted on 'X' that 'choosing to identify as non-binary is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat. A member of the public reported the post to the police, who judged that it was not a crime but recorded it as a non-hate crime incident (NCHI).
Murdo only found out about the matter after the complainant referenced it in a separate complaint to the Scottish Parliament's Ethical Standards Commissioner. He then asked Police Scotland to remove the NCHI but they refused.
As a result, Murdo contacted the Free Speech Union whose lawyers submitted a formal complaint on three grounds - that the NCHI involved unlawful recording of personal data; that the force's hate crime guidance was itself unlawful; and that the policy had been applied inconsistently. Police Scotland rejected these complaints, leading the issue to be referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC), a Police Scotland watchdog.
PIRC concluded that Police Scotland had acted unreasonably when it logged the NCHR against Murdo, and then dismissed his subsequent complaint without properly engaging with the law or evidence.
In their letter to Murdo, which he received this week, Police Scotland stated his case had been treated differently 'versus reported incidents involving other prominent figures' and apologised to him 'unreservedly.' As an example of contrast, the police took no action against author JK Rowling after she posted pictures of 10 high-profile trans people and ridiculed their claims to be women.
Rowling had challenged Police Scotland to arrest her.
Commenting, on the Police Scotland letter to him, Murdo said: "It was always clear to me that Police Scotland were not applying their policy on NCHIs in an even-handed fashion, and I had a particular concern that an opposition politician was being treated differently from the SNP First Minister (Humza Yousaf).
"I am pleased that this has now been accepted by Police Scotland and that an unreserved apology has been issued."
