Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs) are a waste of police time and taxpayers’ money. For five years, the Free Speech Union has led the fight to scrap them, warning that they have a chilling — even Orwellian — effect on free expression.
Our campaign has had mixed results. But when the Metropolitan Police announced in October that they would no longer investigate NCHIs, it looked as though the tide had finally turned. Tellingly, the announcement came on the same day the force confirmed it would take no further action against Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, who was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September by five armed officers over three social media posts.
A spokesperson for the Commissioner of the Met Police, Sir Mark Rowley, said: “The Commissioner has been clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position.”
This was welcome news and undeniably a direct result of the Free Speech Union’s sustained public pressure campaign. But it still didn’t go far enough. The Free Speech Union believes that, while the decision is a step in the right direction, all police forces must go further and stop recording NCHIs altogether.
It was also encouraging to see that in a joint report, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing acknowledged what the Free Speech Union has been saying for years and called for NCHIs to be scrapped.
Right now, an NCHI can appear on an enhanced DBS check — routinely required for jobs in healthcare and education — and prevent someone from getting a job. That’s right: you can be denied a job for committing a non-crime.
It is therefore disappointing to learn that, since the Met Police announced on 20th October that it would stop investigating NCHIs, the number recorded has actually risen. According to figures obtained by Guido Fawkes’ Freedom of Information Unit, from 1st August to 20th October the force logged an average of 50 NCHIs per week. In the very first week after the announcement, that figure jumped to 58.
The Met has defended the practice by claiming that NCHIs are “valuable pieces of intelligence to establish potential patterns of behaviour or criminality.” But given that they are — by definition — non-crimes, this rationale simply does not stand up.
A spokesperson for the Met Police has stated: “We have been clear we will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents. However, we will record an incident if it’s reported to us. This will ensure we have valuable intelligence to establish any patterns of behaviour or criminality. The number of incidents reported to us are obviously out of our control and not an indication of increased police action.”
The Free Speech Union will continue to campaign for the complete abolition of NCHIs.