Standing up to ‘hate crime’ mission creep
by Paul Mercer, Conservative Home:
[…] This incident raises two important issues.
The first is the extent to which councillors formulate policy. It has become clear that, on this occasion, officers had decided that it was their responsibility and seemed to resent our interference. They also assumed that we would not take the trouble of questioning what they said, or indeed carry out any research to ascertain whether it was true and accurate.
The second troubling issue is the extent to which the police appear to be arbitrarily broadening the “hate crime” definition to include alternative subcultures. Greater Manchester Police was the first to expand its categories following a campaign by the mother of murdered “goth” Sophie Lancaster and some other police forces, including Leicestershire, followed their lead. If the definition of hate crime is to be extended to include age, alternative subcultures, and indeed anything else, then it should be decided at a national level, by the Government, and not on a piecemeal basis which has resulted in total inconsistency across a county and I suspect the rest of the UK.
Hate crime is a serious issue that needs to be addressed at a national level but by forever expanding the definition to include anyone who perceives that they have been insulted for any reason ultimately undermines the ability of the police and local authorities to address the most serious cases.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
