Non-Crime Hate Incidents Should Be Abolished, Report Says

Campaigners gather outside the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh, to mark the introduction of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, on April 1, 2024. Lesley Martin/PA Wire

Non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) “should be abolished” as they “distract police from the fight against crime” while having a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression, a think tank has argued.

Policy Exchange published a report on Monday authored by David Spencer, a former detective chief inspector in the Metropolitan Police who is now head of crime and justice at the think tank.

The report claims that as well as distracting police officers from their job of fighting crime, they can also cause prospective employees to lose job opportunities in the same way as a criminal record can.

“NCHIs can be devastating for individuals, as they may be disclosed in enhanced DBS [Disclosure and Barring Service] checks, potentially barring people who have committed no crimes from jobs in teaching and elsewhere, based on nothing more than the perceptions of someone they may have inadvertently offended,” Spencer wrote.

7,500 Working Days Lost

He estimates that nationally more than 60,000 police hours, or 7,500 full working days, are being spent on NCHIs annually.

The report comes after Essex Police closed an investigation into Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson for alleged incitement of racial hatred over an unidentified post online that has since been deleted.

An independent review will be launched into the force’s handling of the case after the story sparked a backlash about apparent police overreach.

The Policy Exchange paper claimed analysis of Essex Police’s NCHIs revealed the force has a “far higher rate” than other forces around the country.

It said that in 2023 Essex Police recorded NCHIs at a rate of 21.5 NCHIs per 100 officers per annum, a rate “twice that of the national rate, three times that of the Metropolitan Police, four times that of Greater Manchester Police and ten times that of West Yorkshire Police.”

Policy Exchange made nine recommendations as part of the paper, including the complete abolition of the NCHI regime “at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Freedom of Expression

If the government retains the policy, then they should update the Code of Practice that would “lead to a substantial reduction in the number of NCHIs record[ed] – increasing ‘freedom of expression’ protections and reducing the distraction of police officers from their core mission of fighting crime,” the report said.

It added that this should include no longer recording any NCHIs that do not contain personal data.

The think tank argued that the government should raise the definition threshold to “genuinely meet the standard of hate” and pass legislation mandating police forces to follow the Code of Practice of non-crime hate incidents.

Spencer said: “The non-crime hate incident regime is having a devastating impact on the public and their perception of policing.

“Too often police chiefs have chosen to focus their attention on matters other than the fight against those crimes which most affects the public.

“By abolishing the entire NCHI regime the Government has an opportunity to keep the police’s attention on what really matters to the public, catching the burglars, drug dealers and violent thugs who cause misery to the lives of millions.”

Former police officer Harry Miller speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Dec. 20, 2021. Dominic Lipinski/PA

NCHIs were created under the premiership of Sir Tony Blair following the Macpherson Report of 1999 into the investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The rationale behind NCHIs was to focus on the perception of the alleged victim that they had been subject to “hate” but where the criminal threshold had not been crossed. The characteristics for the purposes of NCHIs are race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.

Lord Hogan-Howe QPM, former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, endorsed the report, saying that the previous Labour government was “well intentioned” in introducing the NCHIs “to try and spot incidents that might lead to racist attacks and crime in the future.”

But he said, “Unfortunately, the rules on it have been developed by secondary rather than primary legislation, which has led to little debate about their efficacy.”

He said that although police “clearly” have a right to explore incidents to discover intelligence, they have no powers to investigate and interview “suspects” about those incidents as, by definition, they are not investigating a crime.

Hate Is ‘Subjective’

Hogan-Howe added: “⁠It is often the investigation of people who are ‘suspects’ in those incidents which is causing most public concern. ⁠

“Whether something is a crime is an objective statutory test. Whether something is a non-crime hate incident is a subjective test based on guidance, producing inconsistent outcomes.”

He added that Parliament rather than the College of Policing must decide whether the police should be investigating people for NCHIs and how they are recorded.

The police watchdog published a review in September of 120 sample cases of NCHIs and hate crimes and found that a quarter should not have been recorded by the police at all, concluding that much time was being wasted on investigating spurious allegations.

Although Essex Police said that Pearson was under investigation for the crime of inciting racial hatred, the debate over the incident led to a number of high-profile politicians and personalities to call for the abolition of NCHIs.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a post on X: “Non-crime hate incident reports have increased exponentially as they appear to be used beyond the original intentions of the legislation created over 20 years ago.

“It’s time to look (yet again) at the guidelines and review whether the overall policy is still fit for purpose.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on X he was “delighted” the case against Pearson had been dropped, adding that his party would “repeal” laws around what is termed “hate speech.”

‘Common Sense’

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said that the police should use “common sense” when investigating allegations of hatred, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said last week that “as a general principle the police should concentrate on what matters most to their communities.”

Cooper has said she wants to strengthen police recording of hate incidents amid concerns that the latest guidance, implemented by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, is preventing police from identifying threats to Jewish and Muslim communities that may escalate into violence.

The law around the recording of NCHIs was amended last year following a Court of Appeal ruling in favour of Harry Miller, a former police officer, who successfully challenged the previous national policy that allowed forces to record so-called “gender critical” views as non-crime hate incidents.

Under the change, officers are now only allowed to record an NCHI if the incident is “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and where there is a “real risk of escalation causing significant harm or a criminal offence.”

PA Media contributed to this report.