Police Scotland include sex shop in list of locations where you can report a hate crime

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Taken from Twitter -
https://twitter.com/blablafishcakes/status/1767872003015315532

The list of third party reporting centres are here -
https://www.scotland.police.uk/spa-media/a1epy5nr/greater-glasgow.docx

No. Just religion and faith. Not belief.

I wonder what will happen the next time Posey visits Scotland?

https://archive.is/sbDuM

Bit more depth from The Times.

I'm glad the Stasi is being mentioned.

Darn

But if I’ve understood correctly you can be reported for misgendering (🙄) - which requires acknowledgement of a shared belief in an ideology from both parties? 🤔

I wonder what will happen the next time Posey visits Scotland?

I think she's going quite soon for a LWS.

It's getting harder and harder to distinguish real life from Mole at the Door's parodies

https://twitter.com/moleatthedoor/status/1767978249651364346

A Police Scotland spokesman said that the force had used hate crime third-party reporting centres for several years.

However, the sex shop has been a reporting centre for many years. Ian Diamond and Drew Bigglestone, both 51, opened the store in 2010.

I think this information is very worrying. It's been happening for years?? Why bother with this new law if it's been in existence for YEARS previously??

EDIT - Perhaps Scottish GC women should do an information request to see if they are already on the shit list, and how many times and over what period of time. They might be unpleasantly surprised.

Those guys want hairdressers, according to the Times article, to be registered! Imagine you go in to get your roots done, your split ends trimmed and to have a vent to Stacey, who's been doing your hair for years. Before you've finished being blow dried you've either got your entire family, street and work mates arrested or you're being dragged off in cuffs, possibly for culturally appropriating your new do.

Yes, excellent point

It does make silent hairdressers even more attractive.

Would aggravated eye rolling be worth as many points as hurty words?

That's not ideology in Scotland it's gospel truth - queer theory is what the Scotgov base all laws on. Nobody can be a nonbeliever on pain of excommunication and banishment to Anthrax Island.

Are there any gin distilleries taking part in this scheme???

Not asking for a friend.

From the article:

Guidelines mean that even if officers do not believe a crime has been committed, when “the victim perceives it to be a hate crime, the circumstances will be recorded as a hate incident (non-crime incident)”.

(underlining my own!)

So very many questions: Where will objectivity come into this system of reporting if it’s about the victim’s perception? How will anyone in Scotland be able to voice an opinion? What will happen to comedy shows, exhibitions, books? Can I wear a badge or carry a bag expressing my affiliation to a particular cause? Don’t police forces in Scotland need to deal with real issues eg drug abuse being the highest there in many years? Why is the SNP encouraging a culture of grievance and victimhood - is it one huge exercise on a national scale in “Look, there’s a squirrel!” to deflect attention from bigger issues?

This is as mad as balls. Are they checking correct data handling? What is the legal status of this data? Is it being collected and stored in standard ways across all of the reporting centres?

I am currently working on a system to collect sensitive and special category data from third parties. It is taking months to set up the reporting framework, checking the legal grounds for requesting the data, writing the data protection impact assessment, establishing a secure reporting and storage channel, setting controls on who sees the data and who it is shared with etc... I have lawyers crawling over every stage, as is right and proper.

This is what happens when politicians and pressure groups think it is easy to "just set something up".

And what checks and balance are there to ensure that all incidents reported via the mushroom farm/ sex shop/ disused office block/chip shop/ hairdresser are actually passed along to the police without being filtered out, if the person taking the complaint thinks its ridiculous bollocks/ can't be arsed/is a bit incompetent? How will they manage the unregulated input of all these untrained poorly supported staff?

My local leisure centre couldn't deal with me complaining about having being overcharged for swimming (it took several emails and a phone call to the area manager, and yes it was worth it because it was 50 quid). How are their Scottish counterpart going to deal appropriately with someone who perceives they've been on the receiving end of a hate crime?

This has got the potential for making reporting so much harder for vulnerable people who have an actual grievance.

That is also a good point. Will staff be trained in dealing with vulnerable and distressed people reporting something sensitive.

It's a very difficult job and requires specific skills. I am not sure I would want to do that if I signed up to work for a mushroom farm.

I think there's a misunderstanding that 'hate crime' means 'being mean to someone regarding their protected characteristics'.

People don't realise that any crime (pretty much) could be a hate crime, if its motivated by hate for a specific legally defined group.

So these could be any and all crimes being reported.

It's such a ridiculous idea.

To clarify, I didn't mean people on this discussion have misunderstood.

I meant in general society. There is probably a big misunderstanding about what is being proposed.

(Edited due to my usual typos).

😂

Why are they wasting time on this shit?

I know why of course.

This is the uk hate crime reporting page.

I'm going to use it every time someone is mean to me!

https://www.report-it.org.uk/

It looks like it was made by a 14 year old in 1998

It's a bit strange in terms of employee rights too.

If I signed up to be a shop worker I'd expect to be paid a lot more, and have boundaries well defined in my contract, if I'm also expected to be some kind of crime support worker alongside working on checkout.

Unless it's just a Stasi-esque attempt to get pure citizens to report thought crimes....

It's so obviously bonkers (and Stasi-esque) it really does call into question whether the police are fit for purpose. Whoever came up with this needs to get fired.

Doesn't it actually breach lots of the public duty responsibilities? For all that police vetting is clearly rubbish (Couzens, Carrick and the rest), they're not supposed to just hand over the power to decide what raises to the level of a crime (or thought crime) to random mushroom farmers.

I've (skim) read a couple of reviews of third party hate crime reporting - one from England, one from Scotland. Both cite issues, to do with training, understanding, effectiveness.

As far as I could tell the criticisms were that not enough hate crimes were being reported, so the suggestions were we need to step up this citizen-informant network pronto.

I'm actually not sure if that's quite correct. That's the case for existing UK law, as I understand it.

The new offence of 'stirring up hatred' is not a Non Crime Hate Incident, it's an actual criminal offence.

Existing law allows for a 'hate crime' aggravator.

The new Bill has this as part 1, but part 2 is creating a new offence. 'Stirring Up hatred'. This is punishable by prison time.

As ever, not a lawyer, would be REALLY happy to be corrected.