Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to scrap non-crime hate incidents in their current form, insisting police must stop monitoring lawful social media activity.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms Mahmood said: “I don’t want them to be policing perfectly legal tweets. I want to make sure that they’re focused on the day job."
She stressed that officers should concentrate on “catching criminals, cutting crime and making sure people in our neighbourhoods feel safe”.
“I want them out of the business of essentially policing social media. That’s not where they need to be," she added.
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The move marks a significant shift in how forces handle incidents that fall below the criminal threshold but are deemed to be motivated by prejudice.
Non-crime hate incidents are currently retained on police databases indefinitely and can appear on enhanced background checks, despite involving no criminal wrongdoing.
The decision follows a number of high-profile cases, including Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan, who was arrested by five armed officers at Heathrow Airport after making a series of gender-critical posts on social media.
Police records have also included incidents as minor as a nine-year-old primary school student calling a classmate "retard" and two girls who accused another student of smelling like fish at a secondary school.
Ms Mahmood said she does not want officers 'policing perfectly legal tweets'
|PA
A forthcoming report from senior police officers is expected to recommend replacing the current system with a more “common-sense” approach, recording only the most serious incidents under anti-social behaviour categories.
Ms Mahmood confirmed: “The current position is not acceptable, so that will not stand. There will be a new legal framework.”
The reforms come ahead of a white paper due on Monday, which will set out plans for a new national police force to tackle major threats including terrorism, organised crime and fraud.
The restructuring aims to free up regional forces to focus on everyday crimes such as shoplifting, mobile phone theft and anti-social behaviour.
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Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport after making a series of gender-critical posts
| PAMs Mahmood also announced mandatory response targets requiring officers to attend serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas, where life is threatened, serious injury has occurred or a crime is underway.
Rural areas will have a 20-minute threshold introduced under the plans.
Forces that fail to meet these standards could face intervention from specialist teams deployed from higher-performing constabularies.
The Home Secretary said: “It's why I'm restoring neighbourhood policing, because that is absolutely critical to a community's sense of knowing the police are present.”
Mandatory response targets will be introduced, requiring officers to reach serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas
|GETTY
Ms Mahmood will also announce an additional £7million in funding for intelligence units that have already secured 128 arrests of retail crime gang members, with resulting prison sentences totalling 90 years.
She also endorsed expanded use of live facial recognition technology by police and retailers to identify repeat offenders, who could face prosecution and shop bans.
The Home Secretary suggested her focus on retail crime stems from personal experience as the daughter of Birmingham shopkeepers repeatedly targeted by thieves.
She said: “I really relate to shopkeepers who say that, yes, of course, there's an economic element. Obviously you lose money every time something gets nicked and you have to replace it. But it's actually just that feeling of wellbeing in your community.”
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