Judge Says Non-crime Hate Incidents Waste Police Time and Money

Non-crime hate incidents should be abolished because they squander police time and public money, according to one of Britain's most senior judges.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, the UK's first female Lord Justice of Appeal, said officers are being diverted from tackling serious crime to investigate minor disagreements and online disputes.

Examples of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) have included a nine-year-old calling a classmate a derogatory term and two secondary school pupils saying another girl smelled "like fish".

Although such incidents do not meet the threshold for criminal offences, they are recorded if perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice linked to a protected characteristic. These records are kept indefinitely and may appear on enhanced background checks for employment.

Baroness Butler-Sloss said the system creates two major problems: wasted time and wasted money.

"The police are chronically short of both resources and time," she said. "If this system were removed, officers could focus on the work they are actually needed for. It would save significant money and, more importantly, allow police to concentrate on genuine crimes."

She made the remarks during a House of Lords debate on proposals to abolish NCHIs, put forward by Lord Toby Young of the Free Speech Union and Lord Hogan-Howe, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Her comments come ahead of a forthcoming report by police leaders that is also expected to recommend scrapping NCHIs. The report will propose replacing them with a "common sense" approach, under which only the most serious incidents would be recorded as anti-social behaviour.

The proposals are thought to have the backing of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who told police chiefs in November that officers should be focused on policing the streets rather than monitoring "perfectly legal language" on social media.

The issue has gained prominence following high-profile cases involving writer Graham Linehan and Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson. Mr Linehan was arrested by five police officers at Heathrow Airport over social media posts alleged to incite violence, while Ms Pearson was questioned at her home on Remembrance Sunday over a tweet accused of inciting racial hatred.

Both investigations were later dropped.

Lord Hogan-Howe said NCHIs should be abolished because they have drawn police into matters they should not be handling. While intelligence gathering to identify emerging patterns has value, he said, that must not come at the expense of common sense.

"Causing offence is not a crime," he added.

GV Hale