Schoolboy, 9, among thousands investigated for non-crime hate incidents after calling classmate 'r**ard'

These students are just some of the young people being investigated for NHCIs, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by The Times.

Government guidance says that NCHIs are only supposed to be recorded by police when they are “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and could result in further escalation.

Incidents that take place in the classroom should not be recorded, police have previously said.

From June 2023 to June 2024, over 13,200 NCHIs were recorded across the UK.

There is widespread confusion across police forces about which incidents qualify, the publication reported.

Downing Street has said that the Home Office would reassess its guidance to protect “the fundamental right to free speech”, after journalist Allison Pearson became subject to an police investigation regarding a social media post she made a year ago.

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Earlier this week, the 64-year-old Telegraph journalist said that two police officers turned up at her door on Remembrance Sunday to tell her that she was under investigation for a tweet she made in 2023.

The officers told her that they could not disclose what the specific post was referring to, however, she was posting regularly about the October 7 attacks on Israel around this time.

Essex Police said officers had opened an investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”.

Yvette Cooper wants to change the requirement for police officers to record non-criminal hate incidents.

The Home Secretary is understood to be considering a new “zero-tolerance” approach, which would see police officers encouraged to record more non-criminal hate incidents.

The move would be a reversal of changes to the laws brought in last year by the Tories, who issued new guidance that ordered the force to stop recording incidents just because someone was offended.

It follows concerns that the new guidance is stopping officers from monitoring and identifying threats to Jewish and Muslim communities that could result in violence.

Coming into effect in June 2023, officers are currently restricted to only recording incidents motivated by “intentional hostility” and “where there is a “real risk of escalation causing significant harm or a criminal offence”.