Non-crime hate incidents should not be recorded where they are trivial and irrational, according to new guidance from England and Wales’s police body, a move which is being celebrated as “a step in the right direction” by free speech defenders.
‘Big Moment’
The guidance from the College of Policing, published on Thursday, says non-crime hate incidents should not be recorded where they are trivial, irrational, or if there is no basis to conclude that an incident was motivated by hostility.The news was welcomed by free speech advocates.
“It’s a step in the right direction but it relies on the police prioritising common sense over hurt feelings,” Miller from Fair Cop told The Epoch Times by email.
“The FSU welcomes the fact that the College of Policing has finally acknowledged that the indiscriminate investigation and recording of non-crime hate incidents has a chilling effect on free speech and revised its guidance accordingly. It’s just a shame it took a victory in the Court of Appeal to force it to do this,” FSU General Secretary Toby Young told The Epoch Times by email.
“I hope the statutory guidance about NCHIs, when it’s issued by the Home Office, curtails the practice even further. This should always have been a matter for Parliament, not an unelected non-governmental organisation,” added Young.
The new guidance added that individuals “who are commenting in a legitimate debate, for example, on political or social issues, should not be stigmatised because someone is offended.”
And that if a record is made, it must be done “in the least intrusive way possible—for example, it may not be necessary to record the name of an individual or the location of an incident.”
Policing Debates on Twitter
The police force has come under fire for being seen to be increasingly policing debates on Twitter, especially with gender-critical women having their views recorded as hate crimes.In a landmark case in December 2021 brought on by Miller, the Court of Appeal ruled that the recording of NCHIs is an unlawful interference with freedom of expression and contrary to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Humberside Police had contacted Miller for reposting a limerick that was critical of transgender people which was an NCHI, despite no crime being committed.
Miller told the Epoch Times that the “police aren’t fond of common sense and are addicted to victim culture.
New Safeguards
Chief Constable Andy Marsh added that the public rightly expects “the police to focus on cutting crime and bringing criminals to justice.”“While we work to protect the most vulnerable in society, we also have a responsibility to protect freedom of speech. This updated guidance puts in place new safeguards to ensure people are able to engage in lawful debate without police interference,” he said.
“In all types of crime, it is important for the police to record incidents that could lead to, or be evidence of, criminality—something that has been demanded by public inquiries such as the Macpherson Report into the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence,” added Marsh.
Andy Cooke, who took the senior professional police adviser role last month, said chief constables should avoid “politics with a small ‘p’” and remember there is a clear distinction between what is and is not a crime.
“We’re not the thought police, we follow legislation and we follow the law, simple as that,” he told The Times of London on May 15, referencing the term coined by George Orwell in his 1949 dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”
The Epoch Times contacted the College of Policing for comment.