By Margaret Davis, Pa Crime Correspondent

Copyright yahoo

Police should stop recording non-crime hate incidents and must “separate the offensive from the criminal”, a watchdog has said.

Sir Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said officers are placed in an invidious position by current legislation and that “discretion and common sense don’t always win out in these issues”.

He spoke to journalists ahead of the publication of his organisation’s annual report on the state of policing in England and Wales.

Non-crime hate incidents are used by police to gather intelligence on increasing tensions, with the aim of spotting any signs of future violence or unrest.

Debate over how they are used flared last year when officers from Essex Police visited Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson to arrange an interview about an entry on X.

Sir Andy, who has been chief inspector since 2022 and was previously chief constable of Merseyside Police, said: “I’m a firm believer that non-crime hate incidents are no longer required, and that intelligence can be gathered in a different way, which would cause less concern to the public and would make recording of such issues much easier for policing.

“I think we need to separate the offensive from the criminal. We need, at times, to allow people to speak openly without the fear that their opinion will put them on the wrong side of the law.

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s some exceptionally distasteful things that are said, there’s some offensive things that are said.

“The job of the police is to deal with criminality across the board. That does mean dealing with some issues that occur online and some of the threats to life and other issues and the serious issues that are there.

“It can be a fine line, and that’s one of the reasons why we need to look again at the policy and the legislation that sits around this because it places the police in an invidious position and, as we know, discretion and common sense don’t always win out in these issues.”

He added: “If high profile mistakes are made, they become the focus and detract from good policing.”

Earlier this month, a row erupted over the arrest of Father Ted writer Graham Linehan, who was stopped by officers at Heathrow Airport and questioned over X entries he had made about trans issues.

Asked about the arrest, Sir Andy said: “Was it a great public optic? No, it wasn’t. Is there individual criticism from me in relation to the officers who were there? No, there isn’t.

“Lessons I’m sure will be learned in relation to it, but it does make policing’s job harder when these things occur, because this becomes the focus of attention.

“Not the great arrests going on, the great compassion, the bravery that police officers exhibit on a daily basis.”

Mr Linehan has vowed to sue the Metropolitan Police over his arrest.

The annual report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services highlighted the need for adequate funding to achieve Government aims that include reducing knife crime and halving offences against women and girls.

Sir Andy said: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to actually start that reform that policing needs, and it will be a missed opportunity if it’s not properly funded from the start.”