Peers have voted to scrap non-crime hate incidents, almost five months after the Metropolitan Police announced it would cease investigating them. The amendment, proposed by Lord Toby Young of Acton as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, was backed by 227 votes to 221, a majority of six.
Non-crime hate incidents are defined as acts motivated by hostility towards protected characteristics such as race, religion, disability, or gender, but which do not constitute a criminal offence. The Met Police stopped investigating such cases after dropping a probe into social media posts by Father Ted creator Graham Linehan.
Under Lord Young's proposal, police authorities would be banned from processing personal data to record non-crime hate incidents, though officers could still use information relevant for crime prevention and detection. Forces would also need to purge records falling below a certain threshold and not release such information as part of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
Labour peer Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon, whose son Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993, warned that non-crime hate incidents could escalate into violence. She urged peers to consider the implications of abandoning the regime. Lord Young responded that verbal abuse would still be recorded under anti-social behaviour rules.
Home Office minister Lord David Hanson said the Government had already commissioned a review of non-crime hate incidents and wanted to keep the essence of the regime, which was originally established to gather information, prevent crime, and safeguard the vulnerable. He argued against prohibiting disclosure of relevant information for DBS checks.
