Hate Crime Act: Top officer says some still have not received training, and police are 'making it up on a case-by-case basis'

David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, says officers are not confident in dealing with the ‘nuances’ of the new legislation

A top police officer says he suspects many officers have still not received training on new hate crime legislation, leading to them “making it up on a case-by-case basis”.

David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, says many officers are not confident in dealing with the “nuances” of the new Hate Crime Act, which came into force a week ago.

This comes after he said the anticipated spike in hate crime reports on the back of the Old Firm match on Sunday “hasn’t necessarily yet materialised”.

The hate crime act has been in force for a week

The Hate Crime Act, which came into force at the beginning of April, makes it an offence to stir up hatred against a protected characteristic, such as age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

There have been numerous criticisms of the legislation, including concerns around how the police implement the law and of officers being inundated with reports.

Mr Threadgold now says not all officers have been given the training they need on this new law, partly because so many were on annual leave last month.

He was asked on BBC Good Morning Scotland if everyone has had the “appropriate training”, and he said: “My answer to that would be no, I suspect.

David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation

“Some officers have talked about a lack of confidence in dealing with the nuances of this legislation.

“This is a learning process for everybody, but something as simple as the end of March is the end of the police annual leave year, and those who have been unable to take annual leave end up taking it in March - that’s the way it works every year.

“So officers needed to have been at work and then have set aside time to do this training while their phone is going off.

“Police Scotland was aware of the date of implementation for a long time, but the priority to train officers was not given.”

He added people are “making this up on a case-by-case basis”, leading to a situation where the public feel their complaints are not being dealt with quickly enough.

Mr Threadgold also said he anticipates a “raft of complaints to the information commissioner” as people ask to find out what information the police hold on them.

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During his interview he also said the anticipated spike in hate crime reports after the Old Firm match on Sunday has not yet materialised.

Over the weekend Police Scotland confirmed it is investigating a number of alleged hate-related crimes from the Rangers v Celtic match at Ibrox Stadium, which ended in a 3-3 draw.

Mr Threadgold said: “There will now be a series of meetings, which were pre-planned.

“The anticipated spike in hate crime reports has not necessarily yet materialised, but that doesn’t mean it can’t in the future.

“I don’t think anyone in the Scottish Police Federation was caught by surprise, because we were vocal about a spike - but what hasn’t helped is the training provided to police, which was delivered online, was not conducive to asking ‘what if?’ questions.”