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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 person s 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 the policy, which was introduced in College of Policing guidance last year, have highlighed the impact on people s freedom of speech, as well as the use of police resources in pursuing such allegations.
Wipe non-crime hate allegations, says Priti Patel
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Ex-officer tells Court of Appeal that police rules on hate incidents breach freedom of expression
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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 of hate is quintessentially irrational and unreasonable as a matter of common law,” his lawyer Ian Wise QC told the court in written submissions.
I WON’T name the person involved in case my praise embarrasses them. A few years ago, I reported on a potential scandal looming over an MSP. There were disputed allegations about money, the police got involved, and ultimately the Crown Office. In the end, the authorities concluded there had been nothing criminal going on and it all faded away into the footnotes of Holyrood history. But as I reported on the twists and turns over several months, the strain of a career-ending fuss undoubtedly took its toll on the person involved. They were always professional when I went to them for a comment, but there was invariably a question, only half in jest, about when I was going to stop and accept their innocence.