When Is A Complaint Treated As A Crime?
Q. When is a complaint treated as a crime?
A. When it's an alleged 'hate complaint' being investigated by Police Scotland
Remarkably Police Scotland's policy for dealing with hate incidents is defined as follows:
"Any incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group but which does not constitute a criminal offence (non-crime incident)…."For recording purposes, the perception of the victim or any other person is the defining factor in determining whether an incident is a hate incident or in recognising the malice element of a crime. The perception of the victim should always be explored, however they do not have to justify or provide evidence of their belief and police officers or staff members should not directly challenge this perception.
"Evidence of malice and ill-will is not required for a hate crime or hate incident to be recorded and thereafter investigated as a hate crime or hate incident by police."
Now I can't be the only person who thinks is wide open to abuse by malicious or vexatious complainers, especially as the process is driven from the subjective standpoint of the accuser - without regard to the objective facts and views of the accused.
Even worse the Police Scotland Policy records incidents which do not reach the threshold for criminality:
"While it is accepted that not every hate report will amount to criminality, officers are required to take preventative and protective measures even when a non-criminal offence is apparent."With thanks to MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (MBM) for their excellent work and blog on 'Hate incidents and freedom of expression' - see link below.
