Police recording of non-crime hate incidents should be scrapped because they have become a vehicle for settling grudges, a former Supreme Court judge has said. The Telegraph has the story.
Lord Sumption said police had “no business” recording non-crime hate incidents, which he warned had become a threat to free speech.
“I would just abolish the whole jurisdiction. If they want to make things crimes they should do it, but this kind of intermediate framework of grudge-bearing is just intolerable,” he told The Telegraph.
Lord Sumption has joined senior former police leaders in calling for a rethink of non-crime hate incidents in the wake of the row over the police investigation into Allison Pearson, the Telegraph journalist, over an allegation of stirring racial hatred in a tweet a year ago. Essex Police dropped the case last week.
Although Pearson was not investigated for a non-crime hate incidents, the investigation sparked a debate over the way police officers handle hate crimes.
In September, Inspectorate of Constabulary in September found that many forces were still failing to correctly apply the guidance on non-crime hate incidents.
It uncovered evidence that confusion over the rules meant officers were taking a risk-averse approach, summed up as “if in doubt, record”. As a result, such incidents were too often being logged for complaints that amounted to little more than people’s “hurt feelings”.
Lord Sumption said: “I think, as many people do, that the police have no business to be recording things that are not crimes.
“This particular species of activity is so badly defined that it eventually becomes a vehicle for people to visit grudges or for fanatics to try to suppress opposing views. I find that rather distasteful.”
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has urged police to adopt a common sense and more consistent approach over non-crime hate incidents.
She is looking to lower the threshold for recording anti-Semitic and Islamophobic abuse, which she believes the current guidelines – tightened during Suella Braverman’s time as home secretary amid concerns over free speech – may be hampering.
Asked whether he accepted non-crime hate incidents could help detect and tackle abuse that could escalate into violence, Lord Sumption said: “I am not an expert in policing, so I don’t know how far it is realistic to think it does help.
“But to create artificial records simply in order to make it easier for the police to surveil isn’t justified. There are more important principles at stake than making life easy for the police.”
Worth reading in full.
