A former police officer who tweeted a joke about identifying as a fish and a boy who called another a “goblin” are other examples of so-called “hate incidents” investigated by police.
Non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) should be reserved for cases that are “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and where there is a genuine risk of significant escalation, according to government guidance.
But police have been accused of wasting “valuable time” investigating playground jokes and insults as possible hate speech amid a rise in serious crimes such as knife crime.
Rachel Reeves was among those criticized last week after it emerged police had been investigating children for insulting each other.
Police spoke to former police officer Harry Miller after he joked about identifying himself as a fish.
Details obtained by The Times under freedom of information rules showed that a nine-year-old boy was among the young people who were examined by police.
Officers recorded incidents against the boy, who called a primary school classmate “retarded,” and against two schoolgirls who said another student smelled “fishy.”
The chancellor insisted officers should make the “best” use of their time when asked about incidents at schools.
The recording of trivial incidents like NCHI has been a problem for years.
In 2020, Humberside Police visited former police officer Harry Miller over a series of allegedly “transphobic” tweets, including one that said: “I was assigned mammal at birth but my orientation is fish.” Don’t get me wrong.
Police recorded the complaint as a “non-criminal hate incident”, defined by College of Policing guidelines as “any non-criminal incident that is perceived by the victim or any other person to have been motivated by hostility or prejudice”. .
Miller, from Lincolnshire, challenged both the actions of Humberside Police and the Police College’s guidelines at the High Court and a judge ruled the force’s actions were a “disproportionate interference” with Miller’s right to liberty of expression.
A subsequent Court of Appeal ruling found the guidance also breached their free speech rights, forcing the College of Policing to revise its guidance to add more free speech safeguards.
However, despite rulings like these, the press continues to report very dubious NCHI.
In 2021, a man was investigated for racial hatred because he whistled the Bob the Builder tune at his neighbor.
Wiltshire Police also investigated an incident where a person said others were making fun of the length of their hair.
The most recent cases of reported hate crimes include a Lithuanian customer who was unhappy with his haircut and claimed that he had it done deliberately because he spoke Russian and that the barber was allegedly “aggressive and rude” as a result.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘This nonsense undermines confidence in policing’
Non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) should be reserved for cases that are “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and where there is a genuine risk of significant escalation.
In another case uncovered in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the City of London Police by the sunA German woman was compared to a Rottweiler in a parking dispute.
In another incident, police were told someone had been homophobic because they referred to someone as “Leonard” in a row over a hedge.
One person was reported to Norfolk Police at an NCHI for calling a Welshman a “shitty sheep”, while another report in Humberside related to a man asking if a woman’s Chinese restaurant food came “with bats” “.
Meanwhile, in Surrey, police recorded a hate incident after a pub asked a couple to leave after accusing them of having sex in the pub’s toilets.
It was reported that they had been victims of a hate crime, because one of them was transgender.
It comes as a journalist visited by police for allegedly inciting racial hatred with a social media post last year was told she would not be charged.
Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson revealed that officers from Essex Police knocked on her door on Remembrance Day earlier this month to inform her of the investigation, but were unable to give her any details about which position was being investigated or who came forward. the complaint against him.
The complaint related to a tweet that showed an image of two police officers standing next to two men holding the flag of a Pakistani political party.
Pearson confused the flag with that of Hamas, labeling the Metropolitan Police and accusing officers of “smirking with Jew-haters” in the mail.
He said he deleted the message as soon as he realized his mistake, so the message was up for less than two hours.
Allison Pearson (pictured) was investigated by police for “inciting racial hatred” in a social media post.
Minutes after being informed by his lawyer that the case had been dropped, Pearson told the Daily Mail that he “wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone.”
“Obviously, firstly, I was shocked and devastated to have had the police at my door on Remembrance Sunday, the very day, telling me that I had posted something on social media that they said was inciting racial hatred.” , said.
And they wouldn’t tell me what I was supposed to have said. To this day they have never confirmed what publication it was.
The action was condemned by a number of high-profile politicians, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
A CPS spokesperson said: ‘The CPS reviewed evidence relating to allegations of incitement to racial hatred or any other communications offense following an investigation by Essex Police.
‘We have decided that the case did not meet the evidentiary test. Essex Police have today informed the complainant.
Essex Police said: “We investigate crimes reported to us without fear or favour.”
‘Sometimes we are faced with accusations of crimes where people have very opposite opinions.
“That’s why we work so hard to be impartial and investigate allegations, regardless of where they may lead.”