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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Severin Carrell Scotland editor

Only 3.8% of hate crime law complaints authentic so far, says Police Scotland

Scotland Police Scotland Police
two people – one man in a baseball cap and red-and-black checked jacket, carrying a green rucksack and exhaling vape smoke, and the other in a grey hoodie and black jacket – walk past a billboard encouraging people to report hate crime, in Dennistoun, Glasgow, 10 April 2024. Graffiti has been scrawled on the billboard.
The vast majority of reports received were judged not to be legitimate, Police Scotland said. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Police Scotland has said only a small number of the thousands of reports lodged so far under Scotland’s controversial hate crime act were authentic.

The force released data showing 3.8% of the 7,152 complaints it received in the first week the hate crime act was in force were judged to be legitimate. Two hundred and forty complaints were logged as hate crimes and 30 as non-hate incidents.

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