What are the ‘non-crime hate incidents’ that have become the subject of so much hatred in Britain? , civil rights news
Last month, a British journalist revealed that he was visited by police at his Essex home a year ago over a post related to former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
On 12 November, columnist Allison Pearson of the right-wing newspaper The Daily Telegraph claimed she was being investigated for a “non-crime hate incident” (NCHI). Police later disputed this, saying that he was being investigated for a possible criminal offense of inciting racial hatred rather than NCHI, but in any case, the investigation was closed a few days later.
Whether police were investigating Pearson for a non-criminal hate incident or, in fact, for a criminal offense, is disputed by his experience. Has brought to the fore discussion about the controversial practice of recording NCHI.
This week, Nick Herbert, president of the College of Policing, said the government should consider scrapping the NCHI altogether, claiming that NCHI recordings have become “a hindrance to policing”.
However, while some want this practice to be abolished, others insist that it is important to record the NCHI.
But what is a “non-criminal” hate incident and what do people in the United Kingdom think about their investigation by police?
What are non-crime hate incidents?
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which applies to England and Wales, describes NCHI as an action that is “clearly motivated by deliberate hostility or prejudice towards people with a particular characteristic”. .
These characteristics may be race, religion, sexuality, disability, or transgender identity.
The West Yorkshire Police website lists examples of NCHIs which include verbal or online harassment, bullying at school or in the workplace, offensive leaflets or posters and dumping rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes.
It is required by law to record NCHI reports to police in England and Wales from June 2023.
Scotland introduced its own hate crime legislation – the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act – in April 2024. It also mentions the NCHI: “It is an operational matter for Police Scotland to determine how reports of a hate crime or hate incident are investigated.” “And these have been recorded and are in no way related to the Hate Crimes Act.”
Why do people say it is problematic for police to record NCHI?
Some argue that NCHIs curtail freedom of speech, waste police time and are targeting people who should not be on the police radar.
Last month, The Times newspaper revealed its investigation, which found that a nine-year-old boy who called a classmate a “retard” and two secondary school pupils who said another pupil “smelled like fish” Thi” was recorded by the police as having committed the crime. NCHI.
Other children were also reported – and their actions recorded by police – The Times investigation found. The Times said this revealed “widespread confusion” among police about what types of incidents should be recorded.
NCHI complaints have increased recently. Based on data from 45 of the UK’s 48 police forces, 13,200 complaints were lodged last year. Based on this number of complaints, the UK think tank Policy Exchange estimated in a report published on 25 November that more than 60,000 police hours are spent on NCHI per year.
Nick Herbert, president of the College of Policing, told the media this week: “I think it has become a hindrance to the police doing what we want the police to do which is making sure they are preventing harm, identifying “Where the risk of harm lies, making sure it can be prevented…the category itself has become controversial and a distraction.”
Why do some people say they are necessary?
Some argue that it is necessary to monitor NCHIs because they may be indicative of deviant behavior that may turn into criminal behavior.
Danny Stone, chief executive of the UK-based Antisemitism Policy Trust, wrote for the news blog Conservative Home that “victim-led hate reporting has had a significant and significant positive impact on police and communities in addressing harm, extremism and failure.” ” Integration or community-cohesion efforts”.
Stone also cited an example from 2007 when a woman in Leicestershire killed herself and her severely disabled daughter after a decade of torment by local youths. It was found that the woman, Fiona Pilkington, had contacted police 33 times about the abuse. Despite the police meeting the family eight times, no action was taken.
Who has been investigated for non-crime hate incidents?
In 2019, former policeman Harry Miller was investigated by Humberside Police for “transphobic comments” on his X account. She wrote 31 posts between November 2018 and January 2019, later described as “gender-related critical views”, which are protected in law since the 2021 Forstater ruling that they do not qualify as “philosophical” for the purposes of equality law. Qualify as “assumptions”.
In one post she wrote: “Transwomen are women. Does anyone know where this new biological classification was first proposed and adopted? Another post said: “I was assigned mammal at birth, but my inclination is fish. Don’t get me wrong.”
Miller took the police to court over the investigation, claiming that his right to free speech was potentially being denied. The court sided with Miller and said that his views were within the scope of protection of freedom of expression.
The judge ruled that there was no evidence that Miller’s posts were “‘designed’ to cause deep offence”, and that his posts “were not directed at the transgender community”, instead, they were directed at his X followers. Were done.
On November 10 this year, 64-year-old Daily Telegraph journalist Alison Pearson claimed in her newspaper column that police arrived at her Essex home and informed her that she had been charged with NCHI for a post. First. She claimed they said she was not allowed to tell them which particular X post it was, or who had complained about it.
Pearson denied that he had posted “hateful” material.
The Guardian reported that Pearson’s ex-post was an image of two colored people holding the flag of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Pearson captioned the photo: “Look at these guys smiling with the Jew haters,” perhaps mistaking the PTI flag for a Hamas flag. Later he deleted the post.
Essex Police, who later told The Guardian that Pearson was actually being investigated for the possible criminal offense of inciting racial hatred rather than NCHI and released bodycam footage from their police officers to prove this, on 21 November The investigation was completely stopped.
Following the Allison Pearson incident, right-wing news presenter and activist Darren Grimes claimed he was investigated for NCHI in 2020.
Like Allison, I have a ‘non-criminal’ hate incident registered against my name. They were expected to stop registering such Orwellian markers against an individual. I certainly don’t understand how the pressure to investigate such a disgusting allegation is being seen. Britain is not an independent country. https://t.co/dRjRxF1Pi9
– Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) 13 November 2024
Who else is campaigning against NCHI?
Some conservatives, as well as supporters of free speech, are campaigning against the NCHI recordings, including the British non-partisan organisation, the Free Speech Union.
In a statement, the Free Speech Union said NCHI’s monitoring was “a recent and appalling restriction on our free speech”.
Policy Exchange published a report on 25 November, authored by its head of crime and justice, David Spencer. Spencer, a former Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police, wrote that monitoring NCHI is “a distraction from the public’s priorities on policing”.
Spencer said recording NCHI is a distraction for police.
Former Conservative Party Foreign Minister Suella Braverman has also been critical of NCHI. In 2023, when the Conservative Party was still in power, Braverman issued new guidance stating that incidents should only be considered NCHI if they are “clearly motivated by deliberate hostility”.
Last month, The Telegraph reported that Labor Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was considering reversing the change to monitor anti-Semitism and Islamophobia that could escalate into violence.
