Tory MSP writes to Police Scotland chief over ‘non-crime hate incident’ row

Murdo Fraser. Picture: Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament

A Tory MSP has written to Scotland’s top police officer to demand answers after the force recorded a social media post he had written as a “non-crime hate incident”.

Murdo Fraser has accused Police Scotland of “bias” after it failed to log complaints made against Humza Yousaf and JK Rowling in a similar manner.

In a letter to Jo Farrell, the chief constable, he said the force now had “serious questions” to answer.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that a series of tweets by Ms Rowling as the new Hate Crime Act came into effect were not criminal and had not been recorded as a “hate incident”.

The author had listed a number of transgender women, including violent criminals and activists, and insisted “every last one” is a man. She then challenged the police to arrest her under new hate crime legislation if they believed she had committed an offence.

Complaints had also been made about Mr Yousaf, the First Minister, relating to a speech he gave in 2020 about the lack of ethnic minorities in positions of power.

Mr Fraser said: “Police Scotland have serious questions to answer following their decision to not to record non-crime hate incidents in situations involving Humza Yousaf and JK Rowling.

“I have now written to the chief constable asking if their policy on recording of non-crime hate incidents has changed and if so, who made that decision. The public deserve transparency from the force on this very serious matter and I hope the chief constable will respond to me as soon as possible.”

The MSP previously called for an urgent apology, adding: “It is hard not to conclude that Police Scotland has been captured by the SNP policy agenda and that this is a decision that reeks of political bias.”

A non-crime hate incident is recorded when an incident does not meet the threshold for a crime but is perceived by the victim or anyone else to be “motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group”, according to Police Scotland guidance.

The practice of recording such incidents pre-dates the new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which creates a new offence of stirring up hatred against protected characteristics, including age, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

However, there are concerns the number of hate incidents will increase as a result of the new legislation.

Mr Fraser had a non-crime hate incident recorded against him after he likened identifying as non-binary to identifying “as a cat”.

The Scotsman asked Police Scotland to clarify why Mr Fraser’s tweet led to a hate incident being recorded, but the complaints about Ms Rowling and Mr Yousaf did not, but the force said it had “nothing further to add”.

James Chalmers, the Regius Professor of Law at the University of Glasgow, said: "Three years ago, a successful court challenge led to changes in the policy on recording non-crime hate incidents in England and Wales so that such records are no longer automatic.

"It's unsatisfactory that Police Scotland's policy is still to be updated, even after the new Act has come into force. None of this affects what is and isn't criminal under the Act but people are entitled to greater clarity over how the police might deal with accusations against them."