Hopeful but vague. Really really vague.
The UK government is to change when police forces in England and Wales record non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), in a bid to end the policing of “everyday arguments”.
New Home Office guidance will say that forces should only log incidents that are potentially “relevant to policing”.
A tad circular, don’t you think? Once the police take a look at it it becomes relevant to policing, right?
It comes after a review by police chiefs found the system, developed in the mid-2000s, had increasingly seen officers drawn into policing debates on social media.
However the Conservatives say the move from Labour ministers does not go far enough, calling it “simply a rebrand”.
Well, I’m not a Conservative (or a conservative) but that’s what it looks like to me. Plod can just say “This is relevant to policing” and we’re back at square one.
NCHIs are recorded when police receive a report perceived by the caller to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people with certain characteristics, such as race or gender, but which does not meet the bar for prosecution under hate crime laws.
Erm…”gender” meaning what? Sex? Or magic sacred fungible soul? It’s still ok to bully women while still not ok to say men can’t be women?
I’m not placing any bets.
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