As it prepares to investigate every report it receives under the new Hate Crime Act, Police Scotland admits that a separate plan to stop investigating crimes like theft and criminal damage will help criminals.
A Police Scotland pilot in Aberdeen, which was deemed a “success,” means “more than 24,000 offences a year will no longer be allocated to a front-line officer.”
The body refused to tell the Telegraph which offences would not be investigated, asserting that it would provide criminals with a “tactical advantage.”
“Police Scotland refused to release the data, claiming that admitting which crimes the policy could apply to would risk handing “those with criminal intent” the opportunity to “plan and orchestrate their criminal activities with the aim of avoiding detection,” reports the newspaper.
However, Chief Constable Jo Farrell told a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority that some forms of theft and criminal damage would not be investigated.
The new policy is designed to free up time for officers to focus on other crimes.
The absurdity of this plan is heightened by the fact that from April 1st, hate crime legislation comes into force in Scotland that will require additional resources to assess every single report.
Farrell admitted that the new law this could create “additional demand”and create a “resource implication” for police.
As we highlight in the video above, the bill is so broad that any speech whatsoever deemed to have caused offense could be reported and investigated.
During their training program on enforcing the new law, police officers were taught that even the content of plays and comedy gigs should be considered as potential hate crimes.
Many have asserted that merely retweeting a Ricky Gervais joke about transgender people could amount to a hate crime in Scotland.