Police leaders are set to call for the scrapping of 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs), arguing the category is no longer fit for purpose. A review by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing, due to be presented to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood next month, will propose replacing NCHIs with a 'commonsense' system where only the most serious incidents are recorded as antisocial behaviour.
NCHIs are incidents perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on characteristics such as race or gender, but which do not meet the criminal threshold. The review follows the Metropolitan Police's announcement in October that it would no longer investigate such incidents, and comes after the case of Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, who was arrested at Heathrow in September over social media posts about transgender issues. The case was later downgraded to a non-crime hate incident investigation, with no further action taken.
Nick Herbert, chair of the College of Policing, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the home secretary had indicated a desire for police to focus on 'the right things and not on the trivial'. He added: 'It was quite clear that the whole regime needed looking at, that there was a perception that the police were being drawn into matters that they shouldn't have been.'
Under the proposed changes, hate incidents would be treated as intelligence reports rather than logged on a crime database, with officers using a 'commonsense' checklist. Andy Cooke, head of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, said earlier this year: 'I'm a firm believer that non-crime hate incidents are no longer required and that intelligence can be gathered in a different way.'
Rachel Swann, vice-chair of the NPCC, said: 'It is not for policing to referee online debates on cultural issues. Protecting free speech and ensuring officers focus on real-world threat and risk is an important part of our considerations.' She added that the review would make recommendations for how policing can best keep communities safe while avoiding unnecessary intrusion.
