Police Scotland has published new guidance for officers responding to hate.
A new standard operating procedure and policy document supercedes interim guidance issued in May and closely aligns with College of Policing guidance.
The new guidance continues to outline a reasonable person and policing purpose test for the recording of Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs) and emphasises that the details of the other party of a report will not be routinely recorded as part of an NCHI.
It also makes clear Police Scotland’s approach to behaviour motivated by hate is rooted in the principles of integrity, fairness and respect, commitment to upholding human rights.
Both the SOP and policy document were widely consulted on with key stakeholders whose feedback was assessed and used to make amendments to the final products.
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “Police Scotland is a rights-based organisation, and officers balance the protections people have under human rights legislation against other laws every day, using their discretion and good sense.
“To support implementation of the new hate crime legislation, Police Scotland developed and delivered a programme of training to support our officers, including an e-learning module which has been completed by more than 91% of officers, as well as a series of in-person and online workshops.
“We’ve trained a cadre of around 80 hate crime advisors and 450 hate crime champions to support colleagues while Contact, Command and Control (C3), officers and staff also received tailored training.
“This guidance provides additional clarity, direction, and consistency to our response to reports of hate, including hate crime and non-crime hate incidents and aligns closely with the College of Policing guidance.”
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