Scotland’s recent hate crime legislation inundated police with nearly 4,000 unsubstantiated reports within just 24 hours

04 April 2024 , 08:31

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Scotland’s recent hate crime legislation inundated police with nearly 4,000 unsubstantiated reports within just 24 hours

The Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary cautioned that soon the volume of complaints would surpass the number of actual crimes.

A new hate crime law has left police swamped by almost 4,000 spurious claims in 24 hours.

Senior officers have had to set up a special “gold group” of investigators, with 60 cases an hour being processed.

Scotland’s Community Safety Minister Siobhan Brown admitted the legislation, introduced north of the border on Monday, was leading to people making “false and vexatious” claims.

Ms Brown revealed a false claim had even been submitted under her name, with Police Scotland phoning her office number to check.

She said: “Obviously, this was a fake complaint.”

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act has made it an offence to stir up hatred against protected groups.

But campaigners, including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, say it restricts free speech, making it illegal to speak up about biological sex.

She had dared officers to arrest her over her tweets about several trans individuals but Police Scotland said her comments were “not assessed to be criminal”.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Russell Findlay warned the law had already been weaponised by “thin-skinned troublemakers” and placed an unprecedented burden on police officers.

He said: “Police Scotland has been inundated with complaints, many of them spurious nonsense from activists.

“At this rate, the number of hate complaints will overtake the number of real crimes.

“Officers want to protect our communities, not waste precious time investigating every single perceived hate crime.”

Sophia Martinez