A top police officer has been accused of fuelling ‘confusion’ over hate crime legislation after wrongly claiming that incidents will never be flagged up during job applications.
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs told the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) that hate incidents which fall short of a crime but are of possible concern would never appear during any form of Disclosure Scotland check.
But his spokesman later admitted that, in a small number of cases, names of people accused of such incidents will be logged on a secret police database – and could be disclosed when people apply to work with children or the elderly.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser – who was ‘blacklisted’ on the database after criticising the SNP’s transgender policy on social media – said: ‘Police Scotland seem to have got themselves into a state of complete confusion over their policy of recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs).
‘Even the deputy chief constable hasn’t been clear about the impact of the policy.
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs has been accused of fuelling ‘confusion’ over hate crime legislation
‘Their previous, unlawful policy had to be changed as it was contrary to human rights, but when even senior police officers don’t seem to understand the impact of the new policy, how can the public have trust in it?’
At an SPA public board meeting last month, Mr Speirs said details of people accused of hate incidents – which do not meet the threshold for criminality – will not be passed to Disclosure Scotland during employment checks.
A Police Scotland spokesman said Mr Speirs had meant only to say the incidents would never be flagged up for standard disclosures – a less rigorous check.
A spokesman for Disclosure Scotland said the recording of NCHIs is an ‘operational matter’ for police but confirmed ‘provisions allow for the police to provide other relevant information about people applying for enhanced disclosure’.
