Police barred from recording hate incidents

Under plans announced by the Home Secretary, police are to be barred from recording non-crime hate incidents just because someone is offended.

Suella Braverman has endorsed new guidance requiring officers to prioritise freedom of expression over controversial, offensive, or derogatory language that upsets people. Officers will be restricted to only recording incidents that are intentionally hostile and pose a real risk of escalating into significant harm.

She said, "I have been deeply concerned about reports of the police wrongly getting involved in lawful debate in this country. We have been clear that in recording so-called non-crime hate incidents, officers must always have freedom of expression at the forefront of their minds." 

One hundred and twenty thousand people have been reported in the past five years for non-crime hate incidents, including "trivial" cases. An example being that of a Bedfordshire man who ended up with a police file after whistling the theme tune to Bob the Builder to his neighbour, who perceived the act as racial hatred.

The guidance by the College of Policing aims to reduce that number and follows the case of retired policeman Harry Miller, who was visited by his local force for tweeting about transgender rights. The Court of Appeal ruled the police action had breached his human rights.

The 40-page guidance tells police to use "judgment" and "common sense" to record non-crime hate incidents only where it is "necessary" and "proportionate," and to do so in a way that does not restrict freedom of expression. If the complaint is deemed to be malicious, trivial, or irrational, officers are advised not to record the incident.

Greater Manchester Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, said: "It is not automatically unlawful to say or do things which can be unpleasant, hurtful, distasteful or offensive."