Not all officers have received online hate crime training

Not all police officers have completed the online training course in Scotland's new hate crime law, one of the force's deputy chief constables has said.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act took effect yesterday, with opponents raising concerns about its potential impact on free speech.

The legislation consolidated existing hate crime legislation and created a new offence of stirring up hatred against protected characteristics, similar to an offence for race which has been on the statute book since 1986.

Concerns have also been raised by the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) about the level of training on offer to frontline staff, with the body representing rank-and-file officers claiming just two hours of preparation has been made available.

SPF general secretary David Kennedy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Our biggest complaint right from the beginning of this is there's been no extra money given to the police service to provide the extra training.

"It's another concern for us that it's more work on police officers and less training. Two hours of online training is all we've had." Mr Kennedy added that he had not done the training himself yet. He said the new law risks reducing trust in the police.

In a letter to Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee published on Thursday, Police Scotland deputy chief constable Alan Speirs said 10,000 officers have undertaken an online training course through the platform Moodle - but as of December 31 there were 16,363 full time equivalent officers.