Officers ought to deal with “tackling real crime and policing the streets”, Downing Avenue has stated – after the Metropolitan Police introduced it’s now not investigating non-crime hate incidents.
The announcement by Britain’s largest power on Monday got here after it emerged Father Ted creator Graham Linehan will face no additional motion after he was arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence over three posts he made on X about transgender points.
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Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman stated police forces will “get the clarity they need to keep our streets safe” when a evaluate of non-crime hate incidents by the Nationwide Police Chiefs’ Council and Faculty of Policing is printed in December.
“The police should focus on tackling real crime and policing the streets,” he stated.
“The home secretary has asked that this review be completed at pace, working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing.
“We sit up for receiving its findings as quickly as attainable, in order that the opposite forces get the readability they should maintain our streets protected.”
He stated the federal government will “always work with police chiefs to make sure criminal law and guidance reflects the common-sense approach we all want to see in policing”.
After Linehan’s September arrest, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley stated officers have been in “an impossible position” when coping with statements made on-line.
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On Monday, a Met spokesperson stated the commissioner had been “clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position”.
The power stated the choice to now not examine non-crime hate incidents would now “provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations”.
Requested if different forces ought to comply with the Met’s resolution, she stated: “I think that other forces need to make the decisions that are right for their communities.
“However I am certain that communities up and down the nation would need that renewed deal with violent crime, on delinquent behaviour, and on precise hate crime.”
The Met said it will still record non-crime hate incidents to use as “worthwhile items of intelligence to determine potential patterns of behaviour or criminality”.
