Non-crime hate incidents should be scrapped for ‘common sense’ system, police leaders say
Police leaders will propose to the home secretary that non-criminal hate incidents (NCHIs) should be scrapped because they are “no longer fit for purpose”.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing will publish a review into public order and hate crime laws next month, in which they will call for NCHIs to be replaced with a new “common sense” system. Telegram.
NCHIs are perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice against certain characteristics, such as race or gender, but do not meet the criminal threshold. They are currently being recorded to collect data on “hate incidents that could escalate into more serious harm.”
The Metropolitan Police said in October it would no longer investigate NCHIs.
Commenting on the review, Lord Herbert of the South Downs, president of the Police College, said: Telegram He said that non-criminal hate incidents would continue “as a concept” and that the system dating back to 1999 would no longer be “fit for purpose”.
He also told BBC Radio Four’s Today program that the rise of social media in the years since NCHIs were introduced had led to police pursuing “mere disputes” online.
The decision comes after this Father Ted creator Graham Linehan discovered he would face no further action over his transgender-related social media posts after he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September.
Lord Herbert described recent headlines about NCHIs as “strange and very damaging” for police forces.
He added: “It was quite clear that the whole regime needed scrutiny and that there was a perception that the police were being dragged into issues that they shouldn’t have been involved in.”
Instead of recording hate incidents in a crime database, the plan will treat them as intelligence reports and officers will be given a “common sense” checklist to use before taking action.
It will only see the most serious incidents recorded as anti-social behaviour.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing will publish their reviews next month, which will then be presented to Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood.
A Home Office spokesman said Independent: “We have made clear that we need a consistent, common-sense approach that protects the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
“There is currently a review of public order and hate crime laws. We do not want to pre-empt the final findings of the review, which we want to be completed quickly.”
