Hate crime laws see 7,000 complaints in first week

POLICE Scotland received 7,152 complaints under Scotland’s new hate crime law in the first week of operation, the force announced.

However, the vast majority resulted in no action being taken – with only 240 hate crimes recorded.

Most of the reports were made anonymously. Police Scotland said the impact on services was “minimal”.

As well as more than 7,000 online reports, police also dealt with 430 incidents in the first week where a hate crime tag was added, while there were 34 calls to either 101 or 999 relating to a hate crime and 141 emails sent to Police Scotland for the same purpose.

But of these, just 3.3% of all reports were recorded as hate crimes – while 30 were logged as non-crime hate incidents, meaning they did not meet the threshold for a criminal offence.

Slides produced by Police Scotland also showed two complaints made under the new Act stemming from the Old Firm match last Sunday. The Act consolidated previous hate crime legislation and created a new offence of stirring up hatred against certain protected characteristics – which had been on the statute book for race since 1986.

Throughout its passage in 2020 and 2021, the legislation stoked fears over its impact on free speech and garnered many prominent critics, including author JK Rowling who feared it could criminalise those who criticise the Scottish Government’s policy on gender recognition.

Ms Rowling made a number of posts on the first day the law was in force misgendering a number of trans people, effectively challenging Police Scotland to charge her. But Police Scotland did not take any action and said that Ms Rowling’s posts were “not assessed to be criminal”.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “This data highlights the substantial increase in the number of online hate reports being received since April 1. This significant demand continues to be managed within our contact centres and so far the impact on frontline policing, our ability to answer calls and respond to those who need our help in communities across Scotland has been minimal.

“All complaints received are reviewed by officers, supported by dedicated hate crime advisers, and dealt with appropriately, whether that is being progressed for further assessment, or closed as they do not meet the criteria under the legislation.”