Non-crime hate incidents to be scrapped' in favour of common sense'

"Police chiefs will reportedly seek to scrap non-crime hate incidents in plans they will present to the Home Secretary next month. NCHIs are no longer fit for purpose, police leaders have decided, after warnings that recording them undermines freedom of speech and diverts officers away from fighting crime. A new common sense system is being proposed, as reported by The Telegraph, where only a fraction of such incidents would be recorded under the most serious category of anti-social behaviour."

"There will be no recording of anything like it on crime databases. Instead, only the most serious category of what will be treated as anti-social behaviour will be recorded. It's a sea change. Their exclusion from crime databases means any incidents will no longer have to be declared as part of checks in job applications. Police forces would be instructed not to log hate incidents on crime databases, instead treating them as intelligence reports."

Police chiefs plan to scrap non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) and will present proposals to the Home Secretary next month. Police leaders deem NCHIs no longer fit for purpose after warnings that recording them undermines freedom of speech and diverts officers from fighting crime. The proposed system would record only a fraction of incidents under the most serious anti-social behaviour category and treat other reports as intelligence, not crime entries. Exclusion from crime databases would remove obligations to declare incidents during job checks. Officers would use a common-sense checklist before taking action to avoid intervening in online spats or offensive remarks.

Read at www.independent.co.uk