7,000-plus hate crime complaints in first week of new law
◆ Police Scotland has released official figures for the first time since the Hate Crime Act came into effect on April Fool’s Day
More than 7,000 hate crime complaints were recorded in the first week of a controversial new law coming into force, but only just over three per cent of those were found to be official offences, it has been confirmed.
Nearly half of all the online complaints were made on the first day, the figures showed, before the number of reports slowed later in the week.
As well as the more than 7,000 online reports, police also dealt with 430 incidents in the first week where a hate crime tag was added. 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.
Of these, 240 were recorded as hate crimes – 3.3 per cent of all reports – while 30 were logged as non-crime hate incidents, meaning they did not meet the threshold for a criminal offence. The vast majority of complaints, police said, were made anonymously.
Some 120 of the crimes reported had a racial aggravator attached, while 42 had an aggravator for sexual orientation, 38 for disability, 21 for both age and religion and eight for transgender identity. More than one aggravator can be logged per recorded crime.
Slides produced by Police Scotland said two crime reports were raised “in relation to hate crime incidents” at the Old Firm game on Sunday. More than four out of five (80.49 per cent) of officers have undertaken the two-hour training course on the application of the new legislation.
Ms Constance said the 240 recorded hate crimes demonstrated “this legislation is required and needed to protect marginalised and vulnerable communities most at risk of racial hatred and prejudice”.
She said: “These statistics show that of the significant number of online hate crime reports made to Police Scotland since April 1, almost half came in on the day the new legislation commenced, with the number of daily complaints falling by 90 per cent within the first week. These comparison statistics show how vital tackling hate crime is and how it is not a new issue for Scotland’s police and justice system.”
But Tory MSP Sharon Dowey said: “It beggars belief that the SNP have introduced this when one in five officers still haven’t received the paltry two-hour training that’s supposed to equip them to enforce the new law.
“On top of the deluge of complaints that Police Scotland are having to field every day, the fact that 240 in a week were deemed to have been crimes just adds to the intolerable strain on officers who have already been forced to not investigate certain other crimes due to SNP cuts. The Scottish Police Federation have warned that this is unsustainable, so Humza Yousaf should admit he’s got it badly wrong and bin this disastrous law.”
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
Hate crime is a most unfortunate name for the Bill. It raises all sorts of thoughts in people’s minds
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.”
The figures were published as one of Scotland’s most senior legal figures condemned the new hate crime law as “unworkable” and called for it to be withdrawn.
Lord Hope of Craighead said the Hate Crime Act placed an “extraordinary burden” on Police Scotland and the legislation had “misfired”. He accused politicians of indulging in “gesture politics”, resulting in a law that was misunderstood by the public.
Lord Hope was the most senior judge in Scotland and later served as deputy president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2009 until 2013.
He told The Times: “Hate crime is a most unfortunate name for the Bill. It raises all sorts of thoughts in people’s minds, without any idea of what the Bill is actually saying.”
He said he had “no complaint with the intention of the Bill,” adding: “But it has misfired because it uses a very provocative title that leads people to think there’s more in it than there really is, when you read through the detail.
“It’s no good for the First Minister to say ‘please be decent and don’t trouble the police with vexatious complaints’. People don’t behave like that.”
Lord Hope said the Act placed an "extraordinary burden” on Police Scotland, adding: “I think it’s unworkable if the police are going to have to administer this, because they have the burden of sifting and recording a myriad of complaints by people who are not really aware of the details of the legislation.”
However, Rohini Sharma Joshi, diversity and inclusions manager at Age Scotland, said the hate crime laws could help “eradicate” abuse targeted towards marginalised communities.
He said the legislation could give these groups the confidence they need to report hate crimes against them.
“Taking the fear out of it may take a while – it’s ingrained,” she said. “But it’s knowing that there’s something there to safeguard you.”