Police officers in Lancashire were instructed to record non-crime hate incidents even when victims themselves did not believe one had occurred, according to internal briefing documents.
The guidance, issued by Lancashire Constabulary in April 2019 and released under freedom of information laws, stated that any interaction could be logged as a hate incident if anyone perceived it as motivated by prejudice or hostility.
This perception could come from a relative, neighbour, or even the attending officer themselves, rather than the alleged victim.
The briefing document provided specific "investigation tips" for officers, asking them to consider if anyone perceived the incident to be motivated by prejudice or hostility.
Police officers in Lancashire were instructed to record non-crime hate incidents even when victims themselves did not think one had occurred
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Officers were told that victims "may not understand what a hate crime is or may have become used to being verbally abused".
The guidance even permitted recording incidents without evidence of hostility or prejudice.
"Where no evidence of hostility or prejudice exists, explain where the perception comes from," the briefing stated.
Officers were instructed to "record the crime" and add relevant hate classifications, along with their perception and rationale.
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Under the guidance, officers should log any interaction as a hate incident if anyone perceived it as being motivated by prejudice or hostility
GETTYData obtained through freedom of information requests revealed Lancashire Constabulary recorded 1,077 non-crime hate incidents over just three years between 2019 and 2022.
The force's 2017 external hate incident and hate crime policy, which is no longer in use, explicitly stated that recording was based purely on perception.
"The recording of hate incidents is based on the perception of any person, and does not need to have any evidence to show that the incident is motivated by hate," the policy read.
"If any person believes that an incident is hate-related, the Constabulary will record it as such."
Senior police figures have strongly criticised the recording of non-crime hate incidents.
Kevin Moore, a retired detective chief superintendent with Sussex Police, told The Telegraph that NCHIs should be scrapped entirely.
Allison Pearson was visited by police officers at her home on Remembrance Sunday regarding an investigation into a social media post from November 2023GB News"The police need to be able to focus on preventing and investigating actual criminal offences, and not have to bother with those matters that cause people to be upset or offended," he said.
Sir Peter Fahy, former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, warned that NCHIs were dragging police officers into politics and diverting them from investigating and solving serious crimes.
The criticism comes amid controversy over the now-abandoned investigation into journalist Allison Pearson.
Essex Police officers visited Pearson at her home over allegations of inciting racial hatred through a social media post from the previous year.
The investigation was dropped following significant backlash, including from Boris Johnson, who called it "an appalling attack on free speech."
Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe has since urged ministers to review the use of NCHIs, after a Policy Exchange think tank report found police spend 60,000 hours annually recording them.
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