Doctors, vicars and social workers have been among the professionals investigated by police over non-crime hate incidents, The Times can disclose.
Police forces across Britain, responding to freedom of information requests, revealed that hate incidents were being logged against people in authority doing their jobs.
A doctor was cited for allegedly misdiagnosing a patient and “a vicar from the local church” was called a “suspect” of a hate incident for saying it was a sin to be gay.
• Religious hate crimes surge against UK’s Jews and Muslims
Police data also revealed that someone was the subject of a hate complaint for calling a Welsh victim a “sheep shagger” and another person was reported for asking whether a Chinese meal came “with bats”.
Advertisement
Non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) are supposed to be reserved for cases “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” with a real risk of escalation “causing significant harm or a criminal offence”. But there was growing unease around the recording of them by police forces last night after The Times reported they had also been lodged against children and journalists.
Rachel Reeves was among several high-profile figures who criticised the use of NCHIs involving children on Friday. The chancellor said they were “a waste of police time”, adding that officers should focus on ensuring “town centres and our high streets are safe”.
Reeves discussed one case in which a nine-year-old girl was the subject of an NCHI after calling a fellow pupil a “retard”.
When asked on GB News if she agreed that it was “a ridiculous use of police resources”, she replied that it was, adding: “And that’s why we’ve committed to ensure that there are 13,000 neighbourhood police officers and community support officers in our local areas, ensuring that our town centres and our high streets are safe, and that people feel that they can go out in the evenings and feel safe in their local communities.
“That’s the priority for police in Britain, and that’s the priority of this Labour government. I don’t think that that is the best use of police time.”
Advertisement
Jake Hurfurt, from the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “Time and time again we are seeing evidence of questionable non-crime hate incidents being recorded by police.
“Interpersonal squabbles have no place in police records, and forces devalue the concept of real hate crime when they spend time on thousands of these unnecessary reports. Police must make sure they protect freedom of expression and privacy by only recording NCHIs when absolutely necessary.”
This week, The Times reported that 13,200 NCHIs were recorded by 45 police forces in the 12 months to June this year. It followed updated guidance from Suella Braverman, then the home secretary, which raised the threshold for recording them.
As well as the case of the nine-year-old girl, a journalist’s article about his interview with a “deaf and dumb” scooterist was also reported to the police as a hate incident.
The Times uncovered NCHIs logged against professionals. One was recorded in West Yorkshire after a person said that their doctors had misdiagnosed them because they were bisexual. Another was recorded by the same force after a man complained that he was not offered a place on a course because he had autism.
Advertisement
West Yorkshire police said it was “committed to recording every hate incident, whether or not it passes the threshold to be classified as a crime”. It said that the rules on NCHIs required an officer to apply their judgment “to establish that there is hostility towards a protected characteristic group”.
• The Times view on non-crime hate incidents: Wasting Police Time
In Humberside, a vicar was called a “suspect” in a hate incident report for saying to a victim that it was a sin to be gay, causing them “to feel alarmed and distressed”.
A Humberside police spokesman said that the force carefully assessed each case, including establishing vulnerabilities “or if there is any wider risk to those involved”. They added that the force worked to take a “common-sense and proportionate approach”.
A social worker was reported to the police in Lancashire over claims she had abused her position and racially discriminated against the victim by preventing her from seeing her children. She had also failed to pass on gifts to them, the NCHI report said.
Advertisement
Lancashire police said it adhered to the Home Office code of conduct and had introduced guidance and training to staff.
Other reasons for recording hate incidents appeared to be for causing offence. One person was reported to Norfolk police in a NCHI for calling a Welsh person a “sheep shagger”. Norfolk police said there were “challenges” in interpreting the new NCHI rules but that it was training its frontline staff.
• Police are recording too many hate crimes, watchdog warns
In Humberside, a hate incident was recorded after a man asked whether a woman’s Chinese restaurant food came “with bats”.
Another person complained to police that he had been removed from a friendship social media group because he was “too much and exhausting”. He believed it was because he was autistic.
Advertisement
Begging, which can be a crime, and street sex work, which is illegal, were also penalised with NCHIs in the UK, The Times found.
Surrey police logged a hate incident after a couple were asked to leave a pub upon being accused of having sex in the establishment’s toilets. The force said one of the couple was transgender and it was alleged that the actions taken by the pub were “hate-related”. It maintained that the NCHI was correct.
In south Wales a lesbian couple believed they were targeted with a dead rat on their doorstep. They conceded that rats were common but claimed it had looked “placed”.
South Wales police said its policy for recording and dealing with non-crime hate incidents is subject to continuous review and was designed with the aim of “ensuring a fair and proportionate way of dealing with those involved”.
In May this year a woman in West Yorkshire reported an NCHI after finding a dead pigeon outside her house. She had already been engaging with the force as a victim of alleged harassment and a hate incident was recorded on the basis of disability.
