Britain's prosecutor has 'no idea' what non-crime hate incidents are

Britain's top prosecutor had 'no idea' what non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) even were and had to look them up recently, it has emerged.

Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, said there was 'surprise at the level' of NCHIs recorded within police forces as demands to overhaul how they are handled grew.

Mr Parkinson suggested both the definition and recording of NCHIs are confusing and potentially unnecessary.

NCHIs were introduced in response to the 1999 report by Sir William Macpherson into the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence six years earlier.

According to the Home Office, police should only record an incident 'if it is deemed proportionate and necessary to do so in order to mitigate a real risk of harm'.

But more than 13,000 NCHIs were recorded last year against doctors, vicars, social workers and even children, leading to renewed calls to reinforce the guidance.

It comes after Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and senior peers - including former Met Police Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe - called for forces to focus on preventing crime rather than policing free speech.

Mr Parkinson told the Times Crime and Justice Commission that he was not certain about investigations of NCHIs started, suggesting they 'could start as ordinary criminal investigations that are ultimately recorded in a different way'.

Separately, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she agreed with a watchdog report that found inconsistencies in how forces tackled the incidents.

She told the National Police Chiefs' Council summit: 'Operational decisions are for police forces to make, but I think it's right that overall, that there should be a common sense and consistent approach to this.'

Today The Shadow Home Secretary is expected to call for a change in the rules.

Mr Philp will tell the summit that officers should concentrate on investigating and preventing crime and should 'not trespass upon free speech.'

'I call on the Government to urgently ensure the guidance is re-written to ensure that, only where there is a real risk of imminent criminality, should police get involved,' he will say.

Read More

One in three Brits SUPPORT this week's anti-immigration protests, shocking poll reveals

'We must use officers' time to protect the public and catch criminals. Offensive speech is not the same as illegal speech.'

Former Scotland Yard commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe who headed up the UK's largest police force from 2011 to 2017, told peers: 'It was a well-intended change to record hate crime, but the definition of a crime is objective, and hate crime is subjective. 

'The application of the hate crime definition has been inconsistent.

'It's time there was a review of how this has been applied and it may therefore allow time for the police to visit scenes of crime which wouldn't be a bad idea because it's the best chance of detecting it.'

Lord Austin, who claimed he was investigated for branding terror group Hamas as 'Islamists', said: 'NCHIs may have been introduced for perfectly good reasons, but last year police recorded more than 13,000, including some against schoolchildren and others for utterly absurd reasons.

'Just two per cent of rapes and four per cent of burglaries result in a suspect being charged. Shoplifting has been virtually decriminalised, there's an epidemic of mobile phone theft on the streets of London.

'The police and the public think all of this is utterly absurd.'

He demanded the government 'set up an independent review to ensure police are dealing with real crimes with real victims'.

But ministers have continued to defend the use of NCHIs amid rising racial and religious hatred.

Ms Cooper said yesterday: 'One of the other things I think that the inspectorate report shows is around the importance, for example, of monitoring things like antisemitism, which has increased over the last 12 months, and that is immensely important.'

Home Office minister Lord Hanson said: 'Collection of NCHIs is important, because it helps get a picture of potential wider crime in due course - but make no mistake, this government's priority is securing the streets and protecting the public.