Now kids’s pavement chalking is classed as ‘hate’!
Police have designated children scrawling chalk on a pavement and a person hanging British and Israeli flags as ‘hate incidents’.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman last year told police they should log reports of supposed hate only if ‘it is absolutely necessary’ and not just because someone is offended.
But documents released under Freedom of Information laws show how forces are still logging trivial neighbourhood disputes and online spats as so-called non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs).
Figures obtained by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch reveal 32 forces recorded 12,340 NCHIs in the year to June – up from 11,360 the previous year.
One followed a complaint that an ‘English guy’ was fixing Israeli and British flags to a ‘couple of lampposts’.
North Wales Police were called after a woman said children had used chalk on the pavement outside her home, claiming she was targeted as she was not from the UK (Stock image)
Former home secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) last year told police they should log reports of supposed hate only if ‘it is absolutely necessary’
A Cleveland Police log states the complainant feared it would ’cause violence’. The force last night insisted NCHIs ‘can have a detrimental effect on people and communities’.
North Wales Police were called after a woman said children had used chalk on the pavement outside her home, claiming she was targeted as she was not from the UK.
The force, which recorded 22 fewer NCHIs last year, said its efforts to follow the new code are ‘robust’.
A ‘hate incident’ logged in Humberside appeared to be a spat on WhatsApp, with the complainant saying a vote to remove them from a ‘friendship group’ had caused ’emotional distress’.
NCHIs, which can show up on employment vetting checks, were introduced after the murder of Stephen Lawrence to help police monitor levels of racism.
But the police have been accused of using them to punish ‘thought crimes’.
A code of practice published by the Home Office in June 2023 stated: ‘The perception of hostility or prejudice by a complainant… alone is not enough to warrant an NCHI record being made.’
Jake Hurfurt at Big Brother Watch said forces ‘must make sure they protect freedom of expression and privacy by only putting details on file when necessary’.
North Wales Police recorded 22 fewer non-crime hate incidents last year and said its efforts to follow the new code are ‘robust’ (Stock image)
NCHIs, which can show up on employment vetting checks, were introduced after the murder of Stephen Lawrence (pictured) to help police monitor levels of racism.
Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, said: ‘It’s not surprising the police failed to solve a single burglary in nearly half the neighbourhoods in England and Wales last year.
‘They’re too busy investigating hurty words.’
The Home Office said it ‘will carefully consider how best to protect individuals and communities from hate whilst also balancing the need to protect the fundamental right to free speech’.
