Police are recording more non-crime hate incidents than last year despite a crackdown on the practice, according to official data. The Telegraph has more.
Suella Braverman, the former Home Secretary, last year told police they should only log reports of hate incidents that were below the criminal threshold if there was a serious risk of harm and not just because someone was offended.
The changes, introduced through statutory guidance in June last year, followed “trivial” cases such as a man who ended up with a police file for whistling the theme tune to Bob the Builder at his neighbour, who perceived racial hatred.
However, police figures for 30 of the 43 forces in England and Wales, obtained through Freedom of Information laws, showed that the number of non-crime hate incidents increased by 0.4% from 11,642 in the year to June 2023 to 11,690 in the year to 2024.
The data, provided to the Free Speech Union, revealed some forces recorded big increases including Staffordshire (140%), North Yorkshire (65%), Gwent (63%), Suffolk (35%) and North Wales (33%).
Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, said the figures suggested the “message had not got through” to some forces that the recording of such incidents represented an interference with people’s free speech.
He suggested the rise could undermine moves by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to toughen the hate crime laws to tackle anti-Semitic and Islamophobic abuse.
She is considering reversing Ms Braverman’s decision to downgrade the monitoring of non-crime hate incidents in relation to antisemitism and Islamophobia so they can be logged by police.
Mr. Young said it would weaken the argument that the abuse had risen because of a drop-off in recording non-crime hate incidents. Alternatively, the rise could mean police were already logging such incidents following the Hamas terror attack on October 7th, he added.
Responding to the figures, Ms. Braverman said she had introduced the guidance to “protect free speech and get the police to focus on the priorities of the British people”.
She added: “Yet some police forces ignored the guidance and have continued to use vital resources to excessively monitor free speech on social media.”
“As the Chief Inspector recently said, the police need to focus on getting the basics right. I agree. They need to stop wasting time and energy on virtue-signalling and start focusing on locking up thieves and violent criminals.”
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