Hate crime plans ‘dangerous’

PROPOSALS which could see wolf-whistling outlawed were described as ‘dangerous’ by police union chiefs yesterday.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf was warned that the Scottish Police Federation has ‘deep concerns’ about a proposal to make misogyny a hate crime.

The organisation’s general secretary Calum Steele said there are fears that allegations of sexual assault and harassment could be too readily believed with little investigation.

Earlier this week Mr Yousaf announced the Scottish Government will consult on making misogyny a distinct hate crime, claiming it is ‘so engrained and so systemic’ in society that ‘radical’ action is needed. Concerns have been raised that this could see actions such as wolf-whistling and sexist language turned into a crime.

Speaking at a fringe event at the conference, Mr Steele said: ‘Just because someone says something happened, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it did.

‘I’m not using that in the context of sex crimes, or any other. But specifically, when it comes to the police, we have to investigate without fear of failure.

‘If we create a narrative that is built upon the assumption the basis of the allegation is enough to skew the scales of justice in favour of assuming that in fact took place, then that puts the police in a particularly dangerous position that we have never been in before.’

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr has raised similar concerns, noting that Lord Bracadale had concluded current legislation was sufficient to deal with misogynistic crimes.

He said: ‘This exchange highlights the difficulty in departing from Lord Bracadale’s independent, expert review which acknowledged the issue but recommended using the existing framework of Scots law to prosecute offenders.

‘He considered the existing legislation to be sufficient, provided that aggravating factors are taken into account on sentencing.’