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One complaint a minute being made under shambolic
Scots hate law as almost 8,000 complaints leave police swamped
Officers are bracing for thousands more cases after
Old Firm derby on Sunday
By GEORGIA
EDKINS and CRAIG MCDONALD
PUBLISHED:
22:35 BST, 6 April 2024 | UPDATED: 22:38 BST, 6 April 2024
Police in
Scotland have been swamped with almost 8,000 complaints since the introduction
of Humza Yousaf's shambolic hate crime laws, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Control
room officers are battling to keep on top of the backlog – equivalent to one
grievance every minute.
'Stirring
up hatred' is now prohibited – and police are braced for thousands more cases
following football's Old Firm derby today.
David
Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said: 'It
is a disaster and officers are swamped under a deluge of complaints.'
Senior
officers have warned that police will be forced to make cuts to frontline
crime-fighting and face a big overtime bill as a result.
First
Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf who has this week introduced a new hate crime
laws that have resulted in almost 8,000 complaints to police
Police in
Scotland are bracing for thousands more reports to be made under the new lawa
following football's Old Firm derby on Sunday
Legal
experts fear sectarian chants and songs, a regular occurrence at the highly
charged matches between Rangers and Celtic, fall foul of the laws.
Tory MSP
Murdo Fraser said rival fans could simply submit complaints to make mischief.
The SNP
administration introduced hate crime legislation on April Fool's Day relating
to age, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or variation in
sex characteristics.
It prompted
author JK Rowling to challenge police to take action against her over her
gender critical views, but officers said no action would be taken.
Mr Yousaf
at first claimed there was 'absolutely no evidence' to support warnings of a
deluge of complaints.
But, as
cases stacked up, he was forced to ask people not to misuse the law.
Ironically,
thousands of objections already submitted have been over a speech Mr Yousaf
delivered about a number of key figures in Scotland being white. No action was
taken.
David
Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), says the
new law is a 'disaster' and has seen 'officers are swamped under a deluge of
complaints'
Mr Kennedy
said: 'There has been no extra funding from the Scottish Government, despite
the extra work which has been created, so officers who are stretched to, or
beyond, their limits, are simply being swamped.
'While the
vast majority of complaints will end up being deemed for no further action,
each [case] has to be closely checked and assessed, so that is using resources
which could be used elsewhere.'
SPF
chairman David Threadgold said the force may have to reduce services to meet
the demands of the new law.
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