Officers should focus on “tackling real crime and policing the streets”, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said after Britain’s biggest force indicated it would stop policing “toxic culture war debates”.
The Metropolitan Police’s announcement that it is no longer investigating non-crime hate incidents was described as “welcome news” by a Government minister who said it would mean them ensuring the focus was on violent crime and antisocial behaviour.
The move came after it emerged Father Ted creator Graham Linehan will face no further action over social media posts about transgender issues.
The 57-year-old Irish comedy writer was arrested at Heathrow Airport after flying in from Arizona in September, on suspicion of inciting violence over three posts he had made on X.
The arrest sparked controversy, with Conservative politicians and Harry Potter author JK Rowling among those who voiced their outrage.
While the initial arrest was made by officers who the Met said had reasonable grounds to believe an offence had been committed under the Public Order Act, the investigation later became one into a non-crime hate incident.
Non-crime hate incidents are incidents that do not count as crimes but are perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards certain characteristics such as race or gender.
The National Police Chief’s Council and College of Police are currently carrying out a review of non-crime hate incidents, which is due to report in December.
The review is aimed at determining whether the current police approach toreporting and recording incidents which are not crimes, but which may have been motivated by hostility or prejudice, is “fit for purpose”.
A Downing Street spokesman said police forces will “get the clarity they need to keep our streets safe” when the review findings are published.
He said: “The police should focus on tackling real crime and policing the streets.
“The Home Secretary has asked that this review be completed at pace, working with the National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing.
“We look forward to receiving its findings as soon as possible, so that the other forces get the clarity they need to keep our streets safe.”
He said the Government will “always work with police chiefs to make sure criminal law and guidance reflects the common-sense approach we all want to see in policing”.
Following Linehan’s arrest in September, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers were in “an impossible position” when dealing with statements made online.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Met said the commissioner had been “clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position”.
The force said the decision to no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents would now “provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations”.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman said she believed communities wanted police to focus on activities such as mugging and antisocial behaviour rather than non-crime hate incidents.
She told the PA news agency: “I’m told time and time again by constituents that what they want is for the police to focus on the crimes that hit them hard in their communities – violent crime, phone snatching, mugging, antisocial behaviour, the kind of crime that eats into the core of our communities.
“And for the police to say that they’re going to be turning their focus on to those areas of crime I think is welcome news.”
Asked if other forces should follow suit in not investigating non-crime hate incidents, she said: “I think that other forces need to make the decisions that are right for their communities.
“But I’m sure that communities up and down the country would want that renewed focus on violent crime, on antisocial behaviour, and on actual hate crime.”
The Met has said it will still record non-crime hate incidents to use as “valuable pieces of intelligence to establish potential patterns of behaviour or criminality”.
PA contacted police forces in England and Wales to ask whether they would continue investigating non-crime hate incidents.
Among those to respond were Kent Police which said it “does not investigate non-crime hate incidents”, but records incidents reported to them when required to do so by national guidance
Lancashire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police said they record non-crime hate incidents in line with national guidance, with the latter saying incidents are judged on merit as to whether they meet the threshold for further investigation.
Linehan’s arrest last month came days before he appeared in court accused of harassing a transgender woman.
The writer, who now lives in the United States, has denied one count of harassing activist Sophia Brooks on social media between October 11 and October 27 last year, and a further charge of criminal damage of their mobile phone on October 19 last year.
The trial is due to resume on October 29.
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