The controversial ‘non-crime hate incidents’ system should be abolished or drastically reformed to protect free speech, according to a report.
Police are wasting an estimated 60,000 hours on non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) every year, diverting them away from their ‘core mission of fighting crime‘, a study by think-tank Policy Exchange said.
Forces are ‘highly opaque’ about their use of the measures, and in some cases officers have been willing to ‘entirely ignore’ rules on how they should be used, it added.
‘The Government should legislate to abolish, in its entirety, the recording of NCHIs by the police,’ the report said.
‘Should the Government choose to retain the NCHI regime, they should issue an updated code of practice which leads to a substantial reduction in the number of NCHIs recorded – increasing ‘freedom of expression’ protections and reducing the distraction of police officers from their core mission of fighting crime.
‘Each report takes several hours to record, investigate and supervise – involving several police officers, police staff and supervisors.
‘Given there are estimated to be 13,200 NCHIs completed per annum nationally, it is reasonable to conclude that over 60,000 police hours per annum are being spent on NCHIs.’
Report author David Spencer, a former detective chief inspector in the Metropolitan Police and Policy Exchange’s head of crime and justice, said: ‘The NCHI regime is having a devastating impact on the public and their perception of policing.
‘By abolishing the entire NCHI regime the Government has an opportunity to keep the police’s attention on what really matters to the public – catching the burglars, drug dealers and violent thugs who cause misery to the lives of millions.’
Police are wasting an estimated 60,000 hours on non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) every year, diverting them away from their ‘core mission of fighting crime’ (Stock Image)
A former policeman’s posts on X/Twitter questioning whether transgender women were real women was recorded by Humberside police as a NCHI (Stock Image)
NCHIs were meant to allow intelligence to be gathered on incidents that did not reach the threshold for prosecution, particularly in cases of alleged racism.
But police use of them has expanded to investigate complaints against someone who has lawfully expressed an opinion.
The previous Conservative government attempted to limit their scope but its measures had been ‘largely ineffective’, the report concluded.
There have long been concerns over the NCHI system’s ‘chilling effect’ on free speech, and their use was highlighted again earlier this month when Essex police launched an investigation into a tweet by Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson.
It later emerged the force’s inquiries into Ms Pearson, which it dropped last week, were not under the NCHI regime.
But Essex Police, whose officers visited Ms Pearson’s home over her tweet, recorded a ‘far higher’ number of NCHIs than other forces, the study found, logging 21.5 per 100 officers in 2023 compared with an estimated national average of 8.9.
The report said that if NCHIs are retained after a ‘rapid review’, ministers should set a new, far higher threshold for the type of activity they cover.
The definitions used to meet the threshold should be raised to genuinely meet the standard of ‘hate’, rather than the current low standard which includes ‘unfriendliness’ and ‘dislike’,’ it said.