Police leaders concede non-crime hate incidents overload records after logging 133,000 since 2014.

College of Policing chair Lord Herbert signals a full scrap next month. The policy, born from 2005 guidance after Stephen Lawrence’s 1993 murder, tracked prejudice short of crime to avert escalation. Social media flooded it with online spats.

Officers now reject policing tweets. Headlines exposed cases damaging police credibility. Resources diverted from crimes to logged non-events that linger on background checks.

Numbers reveal scale. England and Wales’ 43 forces amassed 133,000 entries over a decade. Each persists indefinitely, flagging job applicants without conviction.

Policy Inertia Spans Decades

Governments across parties sustained this. Labour launched post-Lawrence reforms; Conservatives defended until recent shifts. Kemi Badenoch demanded cuts in April, citing ideology over justice.

Met Police quit investigating in October. The policing watchdog urged halting logs in September. Yet national change awaits Home Secretary approval.

Home Office nods to free speech needs. It pledges common sense without pre-judging. Final call rests with ministers amid Labour’s tenure.

Resource Drain Accelerates Decline

Real crimes suffer. Knife attacks, murders, and migrant crossings climb unchecked. Non-crimes consume logging time and storage.

Background checks amplify harm. Innocent disputes shadow careers. Employers see police flags without context or appeal paths.

Stephen Lawrence intent faded. Inquiry sought proactive data; social media warped it into mass surveillance. Police admit the regime pulled them into irrelevancies.

Cross-party pattern holds. Tories via Badenoch pivot now; past governments expanded. Labour’s Home Office inherits the mess.

Institutions prioritize process over outcomes. Reviews take years; fixes arrive late. Taxpayers fund bloated logs while streets decay.

Public trust erodes further. Polls show policing confidence at lows. Non-crimes fuel perceptions of overreach.

Scrapping signals rare admission. But 20 years lost. Police revert to basics after chasing phantoms.

This exposes governance rot. Policies launch with fanfare, ignore adaptations, drain resources, then retract under pressure. UK policing joins councils, NHS, and borders in systemic overload, where good intentions yield waste across every administration.