Non-crime hate incidents to be scrapped after outrage over arrests | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Non-crime hate incidents are to be scrapped underneath new plans drawn up by police chiefs as the present system is not “fit for purpose”.

Senior officers will introduce a brand new “common sense” system which treats “hate” incidents as “intelligence reports”.

Only “the most serious category of what will be treated as anti-social behaviour will be recorded”, Lord Herbert, the chairman of the College of Policing stated.

Chiefs are anticipated to current the plans to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood subsequent month. They are prone to be backed.

Lord Herbert stated: “NCHIs will go as a concept. That system will be scrapped and replaced with a completely different system.

“There will be no recording of anything like it on crime databases. Instead, only the most serious category of what will be treated as anti-social behaviour will be recorded. It’s a sea change.”

Non-crime hate incidents are incidents that don’t rely as crimes however are perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice in the direction of sure traits reminiscent of race or gender.

Lord Herbert stated the present system, launched after the Macpherson Inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s homicide, is not “fit for purpose” due to social media and advances in expertise.

He stated: “It’s drawn police into an area that I don’t believe they wanted to be in,” he stated. “Police have been caricatured that they wanted to be involved in this, but I haven’t met a copper who does.”

Under the plans, police forces might be instructed to not log “hate” incidents on crime databases and as an alternative deal with them solely as “intelligence” reviews.

And officers might be issued with a “common sense” guidelines to undergo earlier than they take any motion, to stop police from intervening in spats over tweets or offensive feedback.

The Met confronted widespread fury after Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was arrested over social media posts about transgender points.

The 57-year-old Irish comedy author was arrested at Heathrow Airport after flying in from Arizona in September, on suspicion of inciting violence over three posts he had made on X.

The arrest sparked controversy, with Conservative politicians and Harry Potter writer JK Rowling amongst those that voiced their outrage.

But the case was dropped.

Following Linehan’s arrest in September, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley stated officers have been in “an impossible position” when coping with statements made on-line.