A police force recorded a hate complaint after a Welsh person was called a “sheep s—–r”. Freedom of Information (FoI) requests sent to all 45 police forces revealed the extent of non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) recorded against doctors, barristers, vicars, social workers, bar staff and children alike.
Responding to FoI requests, Humberside Police revealed officers labelled a vicar a suspect in a hate incident after he told someone it was a sin to be gay. Officers also reported a hate incident against a person asking whether a Chinese meal came “with bats”, The Times reported.
Norfolk police logged a hate complaint against a person for calling a Welsh person a “sheep s—–r”, while in West Yorkshire a hate complaint was recorded after a person who is bisexual said they were misdiagnosed by doctors because of their sexuality.
Some of the non-crime hate incidents also extended to children, including a nine-year-old girl who called a fellow student a “r—–”, and journalists, including one who referred to a “deaf and dumb” scooterist.
It comes as Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson, an award-winning writer, is being investigated for allegedly stirring up racial hatred with a social media post made in November last year. Pearson said officers told her that the matter was being treated as an NCHI rather than a criminal investigation.
NCHIs are intended for cases that are “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” where there is a genuine risk of significant escalation, according to Government guidance.
There were 13,200 NCHIs recorded over a year ending in June this year, according to statistics provided by the UK’s 45 police forces.
A Humberside police spokesman said the force carefully assessed each case before taking a “common-sense and proportionate approach”.
Norfolk Police said there were “challenges” in interpreting the new NCHI rules, but it was training its frontline staff.
Humberside Police confirmed it had recorded 212 hate crimes in June this year alone, the bulk of which related to racial discrimination. Of the 212 hate crimes, seven people had been charged, with 103 cases ongoing.
The Metropolitan Police, the UK’s largest police force, has recorded almost 5,000 NCHIs between June 2022 and April this year, according to another FOI request released by the force. There have been 742 recorded in the first four months of this year.
