Elon Musk and senior British politicians have led a growing backlash against police for investigating a social media post by a Telegraph journalist (Telegraph).
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, and Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, have also raised serious concerns after officers visited the home of Free Speech Union (FSU) member and award-winning journalist Allison Pearson.
The Telegraph writer is facing a police investigation over a social media post from last year after a member of the public complained, and officers initially logged it as an Orwellian ‘non-crime hate incident’ (NCHI).
In an article for the Telegraph, Allison describes how two police officers called at her home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday to tell her she was being investigated over the post on X, formerly Twitter, from a year ago.
She said she was told by one officer that “I was accused of a non-crime hate incident. It was to do with something I had posted on X a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes. Stirring up racial hatred apparently.”
When Pearson asked what she had allegedly said in the tweet, the officer said he was not allowed to disclose it. However, at this time last year, she was frequently tweeting about the October 7th attacks on Israel and controversial pro-Palestinian protests on the streets of London.
The officer also refused to reveal the accuser’s name. Pearson recalled: “‘It’s not the accuser,’ the PC said, looking down at his notes. ‘They’re called the victim.’”
Musk, the world’s richest man, who has been outspoken about the UK Labour Government’s attacks on free speech since coming to power, weighed into the row to support the Telegraph writer.
Writing on X, the platform he now owns, he declared: “This needs to stop.”
The comments by the billionaire, who was recently nominated for the European Parliament’s 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, have added to the growing outrage over the police’s investigation of Pearson.
Mr Philp called on officers to stop attempts to “police thought”.
The Conservative MP said: “The police should not be wasting time and resources targeting journalists or the public for simply expressing opinions. Only where the criminal threshold is met should police become involved.
He continued: “I do not think officers should be policing thought – only actual crimes that meet the criminal threshold.
“Freedom of expression must be protected, even where we disagree with the views being expressed. Police should concentrate on crime. Investigating opinions that are not criminal is totally unacceptable.”
Sir Iain shared his outrage, saying that the incident was “outrageous”.
“What we are seeing is the police force turning into the thought police,” he said, adding: “This is definitely George Orwell’s 1984; very Big Brotherish. I feel sorry for the police who seem to be so badly led that officers are forced into this nonsense.
Mr Farage also commented on the incident, saying: “On Remembrance Sunday of all days, when we remember those who fell for democracy and freedom of speech, it is outrageous that Allison Pearson had to face police officers on her doorstep as the result of a freely-expressed opinion.
“This is Orwellian in the extreme. I’m absolutely appalled that Allison and others like her have to live in fear for months without ever being told what has been said against them. People must be worried sick.
“We are very much in the territory of a thought crime here, where the accusers are called ‘victims’.”
For the avoidance of doubt, NCHIs really are as Orwellian as they sound – if one is recorded against your name it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job.
Most people don’t realise just how many NCHIs have been recorded in England and Wales since then. In the five years following the publication of the CoP’s guidance, we estimate more than 250,000 NCHIs have been recorded by police forces in England and Wales. That’s an average of 66 per day.
Little wonder, then, that the police don’t have time to send an officer round to your house if you report a burglary. (Between 2015 and 2021, 964,197 domestic burglary investigations ended without a suspect being identified).
It should be stressed that we’re not talking about attempts to stir up hatred on the grounds of race, religion or sexual orientation or people hurling racial abuse at football players on Twitter. Those are actual hate crimes, prohibited by law. NCHIs refer specifically to “non-crimes”, i.e., comparatively trivial episodes that, for the most part, the police should not be wasting their time on.
Following a court ruling that the recording of NCHIs on the scale it was taking place was an unlawful interference in freedom of speech and a breach of Article 10 of the ECHR, in 2023 the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman raised the threshold for police recording of NCHIs. Under this guidance, officers are now only supposed to record a NCHI if the incident is “clearly motivated by intentional hostility”.
Unfortunately, however, the new Code of Practice, which was intended to reduce the rate of NCHI recording and put it on a lawful footing, appears not to have been shared with officers on the ground?
The FSU recently submitted FOI requests to all 43 police forces in England and Wales to find out if the number of NCHIs they were recording had gone down since the new Code of Practice was introduced in June 2023.
According to our analysis of the data we got back, the number being recorded has actually increased.
Overall, the increase was 1.6%, but in certain regions it increased by much more. Across the 16 regions which saw an increase (out of 29 we analysed, covering 73% of the population of England and Wales), the number recorded has gone up by 28.2% since parliament legislated to bring the number down. The full briefing is available below.
And if you’re wondering why, in Allison’s case, an incident initially recorded as a NCHI is apparently now being investigated by Essex Police “under section 17 of the Public Order Act”, it’s worth noting that a damning report from the UK’s police watchdog recently identified a lack of knowledge across police forces in England and Wales regarding “the difference between a crime, an NCHI and an incident that is neither”.
It’s a finding perfectly encapsulated by the following, Keystone-Cops-style incident detailed by the report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS):
“A man reported that when he had tried to deposit a large amount of cash at a bank, staff, following anti-money laundering protocols that apply to all customers, questioned the origin of the money. The complainant took exception and became angry as he believed this was due to his ethnicity. Although the matter related to banking processes, the force initially recorded it as an NCHI. Following investigation, the officer dealing with the case concluded that it shouldn’t have been recorded and that the force should close the matter. However, a crime reviewer later incorrectly reclassified it as a racially aggravated public order offence, committed by bank staff. Eventually, after a further review, the incident was declassified as a crime.”
