Hampshire’s police chief advocates for a review of non-crime hate incidents, emphasizing the need to focus on actual crimes instead
Hampshire: A police chief is saying it’s time to ditch the recording of non-crime hate incidents. Donna Jones, the police and crime commissioner, wants a full review of how these incidents are handled.
She believes police shouldn’t be dealing with things that aren’t actual crimes. It’s pretty straightforward, right? Her comments come after some backlash over how hate speech is policed, especially after a failed investigation into a journalist for a social media post.
In the last year, over 13,200 hate incidents were logged by police across the UK. Some of these cases are pretty wild, like two schoolgirls being investigated for saying another student smelled “like fish.”
On GB News, Jones pointed out that the legislation around this is poorly written. She feels bad for the officers who have to navigate through this mess. It’s not fair to them.
She’s calling for a complete overhaul of the current laws. Jones argues that police should focus on real crimes like burglaries and assaults instead of petty schoolyard squabbles.
Jones plans to talk to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper about changing the approach. Cooper wants police to only record these incidents when there’s a real risk of community tensions, especially regarding anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
While the Home Secretary has the final say, the College of Policing will be updating the guidance for officers. The top police bodies think this review might lead to a shift away from how non-crime hate incidents are currently defined.
Jones made it clear: if someone is being offensive because of race or religion, that’s a crime. But if it’s just name-calling that isn’t directly tied to someone’s identity, that’s not a hate crime. It’s just someone’s opinion, and it’s getting out of hand.