Guidance issued for officers on non-crime hate incidents

The force said the guidance aligns with its training programme for the implementation of Scotland’s new hate crime legislation and provides further detail around its approach to these types of incidents “over and above the existing hate crime national guidance”.

Almost 90 per cent of officers have already completed an e-learning module on the new hate crime laws.

The latest guidance outlines a “reasonable person and policing purpose test” for the recording of non-crime hate incidents and provides direction that the details of the other party of a report would not be routinely recorded as part of such an incident.

“Recognising that non-crime hate incidents are not crimes, recording allows police to identify people who may be vulnerable in society, including repeat victims,” said Police Scotland. “It enables police to monitor for escalation and community tensions and to help inform policing approaches and styles and drive community engagement.

“It is important to note that not all incidents perceived by the reporter as being motivated by hostility or prejudice will meet the threshold for recording a non-crime hate incidents.”

Its latest weekly hate crime bulletin shows Police Scotland received 27 non-crime hate incident reports between April 29 and May 5 – an increase of eight per cent on the previous week. So far, the force has received 129 non-crime hate incident reports since the introduction of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into force on April 1.

Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “Police Scotland is a rights-based organisation, and officers balance the protections people have under human rights legislation against other laws every day, using their discretion and good sense.

“To support implementation of the new hate crime legislation, Police Scotland developed and delivered a programme of training to support our officers, including an e-learning module which has been completed by more than 88 per cent of officers, as well as a series of in-person and online workshops.

“We’ve trained a cadre of around 80 hate crime advisers and 450 hate crime champions to support colleagues, while contact, command and control (C3), officers and staff also received tailored training.

“This interim guidance will provide additional clarity, direction and consistency to our approach.

“We continue to develop a policy and standard operating procedure around our response to reports of hate, including hate crime and non-crime hate incidents.

“While recognising differences including legislation, our aim is to align as closely as possible with the College of Policing guidance.”