Police officers will not record “frivolous” allegations of offensive speech in a shake-up of how crimes are logged by forces.
Policing minister Chris Philp said officers are “not the thought police” and being rude or insulting is not a “police matter” as he announced the Government plans, which will come into force next month. The reforms to so-called Home Office counting rules on how police record reported incidents are said to be in a bid to cut “unnecessary red tape” and free up officers to spend more time investigating crime.
In a speech at the Law Society of England and Wales offices in central London on Thursday, Mr Philp said: “We’re going to make clear that frivolous allegations of malicious communications should not be recorded as a criminal offence unless the criminal threshold has clearly been met. We don’t think that being rude or insulting is a police matter.
