Police forces are treating run-of-the-mill classroom jibes as “non-crime hate incidents” (NCHIs), a freedom of information request has discovered.
Officers recorded one incident involving a nine-year-old who called a primary school classmate a “retard.”
Two secondary school girls were also logged after saying another pupil smelt “like fish.”
Meanwhile, barely a pub, cafe or, for that matter, parents’ group across the country is free from personal stories of officers not doing enough to catch—never mind deter—actual criminals.
“Several” other children are among the thousands of Britons being investigated for NCHIs, according to The Times. The paper pointed to a “widespread confusion among police over what types of incident should be recorded,” just days after news that officers visited the house of award-winning journalist Allison Pearson—on Remembrance Day, no less—because of a year-old post on Twitter/X prompted both a national and international backlash. It has since emerged that not just one but three of Britain’s biggest police forces were involved in the investigation into this allegedly “racist” tweet.
It is worth noting that while Labour prime minister Keir Starmer was in office at the time of Pearson’s door-knocking, the 13,200 ‘hate incidents’ reported by the Times—including those involving young children—were recorded before the Conservative Party let go of power this July.
Labour government officials have responded to the recent backlash by announcing a review into NCHI guidance in order to protect “the fundamental right to free speech.” This should be an easy opportunity to prove that the ‘grownups’ really are back in the room, as Labour-types like to say. But the party has already made clear its intention to strengthen ‘hate crime’ laws, under the guise of cracking down on antisemitic and Islamophobic abuse.
Anti-censorship campaigner Toby Young said that if the government does push ahead with its plans to force police officers to record yet more NCHIs, his Free Speech Union will take legal action.
