Four out of 10 'hate incidents' reported to police in Northern Ireland do not involve crimes

The figure has emerged at a time of escalating concern across the UK about what are officially called “non-crime hate incidents” or NCHIs: actions or words that are perceived as motivated by racism, religious prejudice, homophobia, or transphobia.

For example, a “hate incident” could be a remark – in person or online – which offends someone, but does not meet the threshold of being an actual crime.

Even though no law has been broken, if someone accuses you of being behind a “hate incident” then the police can log it on your record and it can then be disclosed to prospective employers in an enhanced background check.

Leader of the Free Speech Union Lord Young has described NCHIs as “a colossal waste of police time” which have had “a chilling effect on free speech”, and it was announced last week that the UK-wide College of Policing will soon recommend that forces dispense with them altogether.

The biggest force in the country, The Met, has recently begun moving away from NCHIs, saying that its officers should not be drawn into "policing toxic culture war debates". The PSNI has not indicated it intends to change its approach.

Some have also complained that “hate incidents” take up police resources at a time when budgets are squeezed and officers’ ability to tackle crime is reduced.

Amid all of this, the News Letter has combed through 10 years'-worth of PSNI data on hate crimes and incidents, revealing that some 9,140 "hate incidents" were reported to the PSNI over the course of a decade which did not meet the criteria of a criminal offence.

From 2015/16 to 2024/25, there were 27,929 "hate incidents" recorded in categories: those based on victims’ race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, sectarian-related, and transgender status.

Out of these 27,929 incidents, there were 18,789 crimes recorded.

On the surface, that means 37.3% of incidents involved no crime.

However, sometimes multiple crimes are logged from a single incident.

This means that in fact the number of incidents involving no crime is likely to be higher than 37.3%.

The PSNI state that a hate crime "is defined as any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic".

Asked who logs something as a hate crime or incident (for example, a police officer or a switchboard handler), the PSNI said: "The call handler logs the incident in line with national recording guidance.

"In some cases, the hate element does not become fully apparent until an investigating officer is assigned and speaks with the reporting party.

"If during this, a hate element is defined, the record is updated to reflect that."

If something is dubbed a "hate incident", do police still investigate it (take statements, visit the scene, try and identify perpetrators, etc)?

The PSNI replied: "In regard to incident recording, any reported incident will be investigated and if it is determined that no crime has taken place then it will be recorded as a hate incident only.

"If new evidence comes to light then it could be revisited and a criminal investigation commence."

Jon Burrows, the former head of PSNI discipline-turned-UUP MLA, told the News Letter that the four-in-10 figure is “unsurprising as a lot of these reports were always non-crime related and often very vague”.

He added: "Recording non-crimes can be very useful for understanding trends, patterns, risks and to inform the police of issues or tensions that are developing and prevention work that can be done.

"However, there is a a major difference between recording non-crime incidents and investigating them.

"Investigations should be confined to crimes – few enough real crimes like burglary are solved for police to be investigating 'non crimes'."

The News Letter had asked the PSNI earlier this year if it was going to follow the example of The Met in London, which had announced it was no longer going to investigate reports of “non-crime hate incidents”.

It had responded with a statement from its hate crime lead Chief Superintendent Sue Steen, in which she said: “Every person in Northern Ireland deserves to live without fear or intimidation.

"The PSNI is committed to investigating all hate crimes and working with our partners to increase reporting and support victims.

“I want to encourage anyone who witnesses or experiences hate-motivated abuse, harassment or criminal damage, to please report it to police via 101 (or 999 in an emergency) or online via the PSNI website.

“At this time there is no plan to change the current recording procedures followed by the PSNI where both crimes and incidents are recorded.”

WHAT DOES THE DATA SHOW?

Here's how the PSNI’s hate figures from 2015/16 to 2024/25 break down.

Racial hate incidents: 12,054 (involving 8,000 crimes);

Sexual orientation incidents: 3,452 (involving 2,264 crimes);

Sectarian incidents: 10,219 (involving 7,227 crimes);

Religion incidents: 628 (involving 363 crimes);

Disability incidents: 1,063 (involving 657 crimes);

Trans incidents: 513 (involving 278 crimes).