Page 9 - Fair Cop News Today

MICK HIME: Still doubt that freedom of speech is under threat in Britain? Take a look at the latest plans from the Law Commission, which proposes an extension of Britains hate crime laws.

The independent UK body, which recommends legal changes, argued the move would create hierarchies of victims and make rape and domestic abuse prosecutions more difficult.

The Law Commission set out proposals including measures that would lead to tougher sentences for stirring up hatred against transgender people.

Police officers across the UK continue to be trained in unconscious bias despite government calls to scrap the courses after a review found that it was not associated with changes in behaviour.

Guests at the This is Me! online event, costing nearly £15,000, discussed inequality and intersectionality. It was hosted by North Yorkshire Police and other forces and firefighters joined in.

Sarah Phillimore, barrister and co-founder of campaign group Fair Cop, told The Telegraph she hopes the review “marks the beginning of the end for the well-intentioned but deeply flawed hate crimes guidance”. However, the College of Policing’s Iain Raphael has warned that, without recording the incidents, officers risk “having a blind spot in their local understanding, hampering their ability to protect members of vulnerable and marginalised groups”. Raphael cited the Stephen Lawren...

Police recorded a hate incident against a retired teacher who wrote a polite letter to a campaigner defending a mothers right to abort a baby with Downs syndrome.  Douglas Kedge, 85, penned a letter to a woman protesting about an episode of Emmerdale in which a couple decided to terminate a pregnancy after the baby was diagnosed with the genetic disorder. He wrote that although he understood some may regard having a child with Downs syndrome as a great privilege and joy, there are other perfec...

Priti Patel calls for review of police approach to ‘hate incidents’ Priti Patel calls for review of police approach to ‘hate incidents’ 45 minutes ago Number 10 The Home Secretary has called for an investigation into the way the police record ‘non-crime hate incidents’ (NCHIs). Currently, College of Policing rules state that when someone claims they have been a victim of hatred, officers must keep a record against the name of the accused person even where no crime was actually comm...

Share Even if police find no evidence that a crime has been committed, if anyone believes the incident was motivated by hate then officers are obliged to make a record. These records, which stay on the system for six years, can show up on enhanced DBS checks. And they could ultimately jeopardise a persons career, even though the individual was not found guilty of, or even charged with, a hate crime. More than 120,000 people had non-crime hate incidents recorded against them last year Critics of...

Last modified on Tue 9 Mar 2021 14.14 EST Guidance requiring police officers to record hate incidents “without any evidence of hate” unlawfully restricts freedom of speech, the court of appeal has heard. Lawyers for Harry Miller, a former police officer who was visited at work by other officers over alleged transphobia, told the judges the College of Policing’s guidance went too far. “A policy that mandates the recording of a ‘hate incident’ without there having to be any evidence o...