UK Government to Shift Focus from Non-Crime Hate Incidents to Real Crimes

The UK government has decided to change its approach to non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). Instead of recording these incidents, they want police to focus on real crimes. NCHIs are not actual crimes, but they can still cause problems for people accused of them. These incidents can show up on police records and affect job opportunities, even if the accused person is never told about it or given a chance to challenge it. The College of Policing has said that NCHIs will be replaced with a new system. This change comes after the Metropolitan Police in London decided to stop investigating NCHIs. This decision was partly due to the controversial arrest of Graham Linehan, a comedy writer, over his social media posts. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has confirmed that the government plans to scrap the NCHI category. She wants police to focus on catching criminals and making communities feel safe. She does not want police to spend time on legal social media posts. However, it is not clear what will replace the NCHI system or what will happen to the existing records.Lord Herbert, the chairman of the College of Policing, has said that police will only record the most serious cases of anti-social behavior. Home Secretary Mahmood has also mentioned that a new legal framework will be introduced after a review by Lord MacDonald on hate crime and public order. This new framework will aim to gather intelligence on potential criminals. Since 2014, over 130, 000 NCHIs have been recorded by police. This includes incidents involving children, such as a nine-year-old who called a classmate a "retard" and said some girls in his class smelled "like fish. " The legal basis for recording NCHIs was questioned in 2021 when former police officer Harry Miller won a legal case against the practice. The court ruled that it breached his human rights and had a "chilling effect" on freedom of speech. While the decision to scrap NCHIs has been welcomed by the Free Speech Union, they have noted that thousands of people are still being arrested for online comments every year in Britain. The organization has also stated that the details of the new system will be crucial.