HATE CRIME: Should innocent people have a police record when they have done nothing wrong?

First Minister Humza Yousaf, Tory leader Douglas Ross and Murdo Fraser MSP.

By Bill Heaney

How can it be right that innocent people are put on the police record files when they have done nothing wrong?

Tory leader Douglas Ross’s posed this question to Humza Yousaf at First Minister’s Questions in the Holyrood parliament today (Thursday).

Mr Ross said his colleague, the Tory MSP Murdo Fraser was the subject of a “spurious” complaint about a social media post that was critical of the Scottish National Party Government.

Mr Fraser, a solicitor, discovered that Police Scotland had recorded the complaint against him as a non-crime hate incident.

This was despite the fact that no crime was committed — “but he is now on the police record as a perceived offender in a supposed hate incident, despite never having been charged, tried, convicted or even informed that the police had a file on him.

“How can it be right that innocent people are put on the police record when they have done nothing wrong?”

“First, we should remember that the recording of non-crime hate incidents came as a direct result of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. It was contained in recommendations 12 to 17 of the Macpherson report. The recording of non-crime incidents has been around for many years.

“Secondly, as well as having been around for many years, the recording of non-crime incidents is done for other incidents that do not meet a criminal threshold, such as domestic abuse incidents. I do not know whether Douglas Ross is suggesting that domestic abuse incidents should not be recorded if they do not meet a criminal threshold, or whether his views apply only in relation to hate crime.

“Thirdly, I will be clear: the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 is not yet in force, and nothing within it changes how hate crime or, indeed, a non-crime hate incident is recorded. I will make that point by quoting Professor James Chalmers, who is well known to members. He says that the recording of non-crime hate incidents

“This is a long-standing feature of police practice. Communicating clearly just how little the Act changes is essential to avoid both undue fears about its impact and any attempts to abuse it.

“Lastly—I know that this is a substantial issue—notwithstanding what I have quoted, Police Scotland made it clear last year, and again recently because of press inquiries, that it will review how non-crime hate incidents are recorded, in cognisance of the changes that have been made in England and Wales.

“There is far too much hatred in our society. We all accept this and we should all come together to help to tackle it. I urge the Conservatives in particular, notwithstanding Douglas Ross’s legitimate questions, to come together in that effort to support the 2021 act and a zero-tolerance approach to hatred in our society.”

However, Douglas Ross told MSPs: “We all have a zero-tolerance approach to hatred in society, but my question—which the First Minister took more than two minutes to try to answer—was whether innocent people should have a police record when they have done nothing wrong. It sounds from Humza Yousaf’s answer that he believes that they should.

“He said previously that the issue is about monitoring and about gathering data, but what will the value of that data be if, as we now see, individuals can put forward multiple complaints with little or no substance to them and data about those will be stored and recorded in the way that has been the case with Murdo Fraser?

“That unacceptable incident is just the tip of the iceberg. The SNP’s hate crime act will come into force in just a few days’ time and could lead to more such cases. The controversial new law is ripe for abuse. In a letter to this Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee, the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents said that some individuals will  ‘seek to weaponize the new legislation and associated police investigation’.

Chief Constable Jo Farrell was very clear at the Scottish Police Authority board meeting about the value of the recording of hate incidents.

“Does Humza Yousaf agree with some of the most senior police officers in Scotland, and does he accept that this law could be weaponised?”

“On the issue of non-crime hate incidents, their impact and effect, and the purpose of their recording, I refer Douglas Ross to the chief constable [Jo Farrell], who was very clear at the Scottish Police Authority board meeting last week about the value of the recording of hate incidents. She said that ‘on recording and reporting hate incidents, they can and do give us a sense, initially, of community tensions.

“So they are useful to us in terms of engaging with communities, engaging with different groups in communities and being able to understand where there is potential for tensions to be raised.”

The First Minister added: “There is an understanding of the reasons and rationale why hate incidents are recorded. That is precisely why the Macpherson report recommended them in the first place around 25 years ago.

“In relation to the hate crime act, we of course take seriously what is said by the Scottish Police Federation, ASPS and any other representative organisation that represents police officers.

“However, it is incumbent on me to say that this act and the new offences in relation to stirring up are hugely important. Those stirring-up offences have existed in relation to racial hatred since 1986. We are simply extending those protections to other marginalised groups.

“It is important for Douglas Ross to be honest and tell members in the chamber and the people of Scotland who it is that he thinks are not deserving of those protections, in the same way that I have been protected because of my race since 1986.”

“It is giving as stark a warning as possible to this SNP Government that the act is flawed. It is not going to do what MSPs who supported it wanted it to do. Those warnings are being ignored by Humza Yousaf.

Let us see whether he will also ignore others. Katharina Kasper is the chair of the Scottish Police Authority’s complaints and conduct committee. She said that an investigation itself ‘can become a punishment which may have a chilling effect on the freedom of expression’.

“Humza Yousaf has directed his comments today at me, as Conservative leader, and at the Conservative Party. What does he say to one of his most senior SNP MPs, Joanna Cherry KC? She said: ‘“for many, the process will be the punishment. Being under police investigation will be stressful, costly, damaging to reputations and could lead to problems in the workplace.”

“The police should not be dispatched to people’s doors to check their thinking. Does the First Minister not recognise the chilling effect that his law will have on free speech?”

“Stirring-up offences are not new. They have existed since 1986—so for most of my entire life—therefore I have absolute confidence in Police Scotland’s ability to police new stirring-up offences in ways that are appropriate.

“If Douglas Ross believes in a zero-tolerance approach, and if he believes that someone who is Jewish, elderly, gay or disabled should be protected from behaviour that is threatening, abusive or intended to stir up hatred, why is he opposing the legislation? From my point of view, it certainly looks as though it is just for the sake of opposition.”

“The act is so flawed that, whatever its intentions, it is likely to create more division. Overworked and under-resourced police officers will be forced to deal with hundreds of malicious complaints. Humza Yousaf’s law could be weaponised against people with opposing views.

“Police investigations will tarnish the names of innocent people and could silence them. That law is overreach by the Scottish National Party.

“How long will it take before the hate crime act goes the same way as the legislation on named persons, offensive behaviour at football matches and gender recognition reform and every other flawed Scottish National Party law?” that I am very proud of indeed.