Keir Starmer was last night told to ‘police the streets, not tweets’ after he backed the controversial investigation of ‘non-crime hate incidents’.
The Prime Minister came under fire after No 10 said he supported police action to ‘capture data’ on incidents and comments which are not serious enough to constitute a crime.
Critics say the growing trend is a waste of police time and risks having a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech, with officers sometimes dealing with malicious complaints that amount to little more than hurt feelings.
The Free Speech Union has branded the tactics ‘Orwellian’ and described non-crime hate incidents as ‘thought policing’.
But No 10 said Sir Keir supported the practice, adding: ‘It’s important that the police can capture data relating to non-crime hate incidents where it is proportionate and necessary to do so to help prevent serious crimes which may later occur.’
Downing Street said the Home Office was conducting a review, ‘looking at how to do this while also balancing the fundamental right of free speech, and ensuring that the police can spend their time dealing with the issues that matter most to our communities’.
But rather than cracking down on the issue, the department later said it was simply looking at ‘the best way to ensure police can record non-hate crime incidents to ensure we understand the extent of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in a balanced way’ rather than reviewing their use.
A source said the review reflected a Labour manifesto commitment to ‘reverse the Conservatives’ decision to downgrade the monitoring of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate’.
Senior Tories criticised the PM’s intervention and urged him to direct the police to focus on tackling real crimes.
In a message on X, justice spokesman Robert Jenrick said: ‘Starmer shouldn’t be wasting a second of our police officers’ time on so-called ‘non-crime hate incidents’. They’re a chilling attack on free speech. Police the streets, not tweets.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp added: ‘Starmer has got this wrong. Non-crime hate incidents should not take up police time, which should be spent catching real criminals. It also risks infringing free speech. Only where there is clear danger of an actual crime later occurring should the police get involved.’
The issue hit the headlines this week after Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson revealed she was visited at home by police on Sunday over a deleted social media post from a year ago.
Pearson said she was told police were investigating an alleged non-crime hate incident. Es𝓈ℯ𝓍 Police have since clarified they were in fact investigating a potential criminal matter under the Public Order Act, involving material ‘likely or intended to cause racial hatred’.
The case generated widespread concern about free speech, with billionaire Elon Musk – the owner of X, formerly Twitter – commenting: ‘This needs to stop.’
Former director of public prosecutions Ken McDonald also raised concerns about the recording of non-crime hate incidents. The crossbench peer said people could have their reputations tarred on the basis of little more than the say-so of the alleged victim, telling BBC Radio Four’s PM show: ‘We are talking about non-crimes.
‘These are non-criminal incidents and the bottom line is that a disclosable record is being made that a named individual has been responsible for a hate incident short of a crime without any proper process to determine whether the event took place or was motivated by hate. Because the hate component is identified solely by the supposed victim on the basis of what they feel happened.
The danger is that these records are disclosable to prospective employers in certain circumstances and who is going to employ someone said by the police to have engaged in acts motivated by racial, religious, 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual or gender hatred?’
In September, the police watchdog warned that forces were recording too many hate crime incidents and getting involved in disputes that include ‘hurt feelings’. Its report found that officers were having to take action that ‘may appear to contradict common sense’, according to Andy Cooke, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary.
Last night, The Times reported that 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren as young as nine were among thousands of people being investigated for non-crime hate incidents.
Forces recorded incidents against a pupil who called a primary school classmate a ‘retard’and against two secondary school girls who said a classmate smelt ‘like fish’.
Norfolk Constabulary recorded a hate incident after a dog walker spotted stickers on gate stating: ‘Trans women are men.’ And North Wales Police received a ‘racial’ complaint from a man who claimed he had been refused service in a pub because he was English.
