Former Metropolitan Police commissioner asks ministers to ‘look closely’ at report calling for end of non-crime hate incidents

A former Metropolitan Police commissioner has urged ministers to “look closely” at a thinktank report calling for non-crime hate incidents to be abolished.

Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe served as the chief of the UK’s largest police force from 2011 to 2017.

He has backed a new report from the thinktank Policy Exchange, released on Monday, that calls non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) a “distraction” from policing priorities.

A NCHI, as defined by the government, is: “An incident or alleged incident which involves or is alleged to involve an act by a person (‘the subject’) which is perceived by a person other than the subject to be motivated – wholly or partly – by hostility or prejudice towards persons with a particular characteristic.”

It comes after an investigation into Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson was dropped.

She claimed the investigation was originally for a NCHI but an Essex Police spokesperson previously told Sky News it was always being treated as an investigation into an alleged criminal offence of inciting racial hatred.

On the new report, Lord Hogan-Howe said: “The original intent around Non-Crime Hate Incidents was well-intentioned – to try and spot incidents that might lead to racist attacks and crime in the future.”

But he added that there had been “little debate about their efficacy”.

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He continued: “Whether something is a crime is an objective statutory test. Whether something is a Non-Crime Hate Incident is a subjective test based on guidance – producing inconsistent outcomes.

“Parliament rather than the College of Policing has to decide whether the police should be investigating people for Non-Crime Hate Incidents and how they are recorded.

“I would urge ministers to look closely at this Policy Exchange report to inform the path they intend to take.”