This article, by Frederick Attenborough, was first published on the Free Speech Union UK website on 13 November 2024.

Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson faces investigation over reported ‘non-crime hate incident’

Free Speech Union (FSU) member and award-winning Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson is facing a police investigation over a year-old post on Twitter, formerly X, which was initially logged as an Orwellian ‘non-crime hate incident’ (NCHI) after a member of the public complained.

Needless to say, we’re providing her with support.

In a Telegraph article this week, Allison describes how two officers called at her home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday. One of them told her that “I was accused of a non-crime hate incident. It was to do with something I had posted on X a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes. Stirring up racial hatred apparently.”

When she asked what she’d allegedly said in the post, the officer replied that he was not allowed to disclose it. However, this time last year, she was frequently tweeting about the October 7th attacks on Israel and the subsequent pro-Palestinian protests in London.

The accuser’s name was also withheld from her – although she did learn that whoever it was shouldn’t be accused of accusing: “‘It’s not the accuser,’ the PC said, looking down at his notes. ‘They’re called the victim.’”

Allison continues:

I am told by a senior Home Office source that chief constables like NCHIs because they win them Brownie points from various pressure groups. ‘Good news, we recorded 15 NCHIs for Islamophobia this month!’

I’m afraid I don’t share their enthusiasm for those blunt instruments of censorship and social control. Was it really in the public interest to send two police officers to my house on Sunday morning? What proof did Essex Police have that I was “motivated by intentional hostility” in a tweet 12 months ago whose contents they refuse to disclose? What threat of actual crime or disorder do I pose to anyone with a protected characteristic – if any? How much common sense informed the police’s approach?

For the avoidance of doubt, NCHIs really are as Orwellian as they sound – if one is recorded against you, it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job.

That’s right, you might not get a job because you’ve committed a “non-crime”.

And most people don’t realise just how many NCHIs have been logged in England and Wales. Since the publication of the College of Policing’s NCHI guidance in 2014, we estimate that more than 250,000 have been recorded by forces in England and Wales: an average of 66 per day.

Little wonder, then, that the police don’t have time to send an officer round to your house if you report a burglary. (Between 2015 and 2021, 964,197 domestic burglary investigations ended without a suspect being identified).

It should be stressed that we’re not talking about attempts to stir up hatred on the grounds of race, religion or sexual orientation – or people hurling racial abuse at football players on social media. Those are actual hate crimes, prohibited by law. NCHIs refer specifically to “non-crimes”, i.e., comparatively trivial episodes on which, for the most part, the police should not be wasting their time.

On the face of it, that might sound a little too cavalier, but the litany of evidence is damning.

• In June 2022, Wiltshire Police opened a file when an 11-year-old was called “shorty” and “leprechaun” in the street by another boy.

• In July 2022 Hampshire Police dispatched five officers to arrest army veteran Darren Brady following a complaint that he’d reposted a meme created by Laurence Fox depicting the Pride flag as a swastika in an unsubtle attempt to highlight the authoritarian way in which the LGBTQ+ agenda is sometimes promoted.

• In August 2023, the then Welsh Secretary, David T.C. Davies, faced a police investigation over an allegedly “racist” campaign leaflet about a proposed new traveller site in his constituency.

• Last year, the FSU wrote to West Yorkshire Police, urging them to delete the NCHIs from the records of four pupils at a school in Wakefield who were suspended over minor, accidental damage caused to a copy of the Quran. At a meeting with irate “community leaders” at a local mosque, Chief Inspector Andy Thornton – who was leading the investigation into the ‘crime’ – said the students’ treatment of the holy book had been recorded as an NCHI.

In June 2023, following a court ruling that the logging of NCHIs on the scale it was taking place constituted an unlawful interference in freedom of speech, the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman raised the threshold for recording them. Under this guidance, officers are now supposed to record an NCHI only if the incident is “clearly motivated by intentional hostility”. Unfortunately, the new Code of Practice appears not to have been shared with officers on the ground.

The FSU recently submitted FOI requests to all 43 police forces in England and Wales to find out if the number of NCHIs they were recording had gone down since the new Code was introduced. According to our analysis of the data we got back, the number has actually gone up: overall by 1.6 per cent, but in certain regions by far more. The full briefing is available below.

And if you’re wondering why, in Allison’s case, an incident initially recorded as an NCHI is apparently now being investigated by Essex Police “under section 17 of the Public Order Act”, it’s worth noting that a damning report from the UK’s police watchdog recently identified a lack of knowledge across forces in England and Wales regarding “the difference between a crime, an NCHI and an incident that is neither”.

It’s a finding perfectly encapsulated by this Keystone-Cops-style incident detailed by the report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS):

A man reported that when he had tried to deposit a large amount of cash at a bank, staff, following anti-money laundering protocols that apply to all customers, questioned the origin of the money. The complainant took exception and became angry as he believed this was due to his ethnicity. Although the matter related to banking processes, the force initially recorded it as an NCHI. Following investigation, the officer dealing with the case concluded that it shouldn’t have been recorded and that the force should close the matter. However, a crime reviewer later incorrectly reclassified it as a racially aggravated public order offence, committed by bank staff. Eventually, after a further review, the incident was declassified as a crime.