According to analysis by the Free Speech Union, police forces in England and Wales have recorded about a quarter of a million ‘non-crime hate incidents’ (NCHIs) since the concept was first introduced by the College of Policing in 2014. That’s an average of 65 ‘non-crimes’ being investigated every day, which most people agree is a waste of police time.

In an effort to reduce that number, the last government passed legislation that made the recording and retention of NCHIs subject to a statutory Code of Practice. That forced the College of Policing to issue new guidance telling the police to only record an incident as an NCHI when the subject involved is actually motivated by intentional hostility or prejudice towards a person based on a protected characteristic – henceforth, mere perception of ‘hate’ would not be enough – and where there is a real risk of significant harm or a future criminal offence being committed.

Unfortunately, it appears that the new guidance has not been shared with officers on the ground. The FSU 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.

You can read coverage of this report in the Telegraph and the Times.