Where's Wally tattoo among recorded hate incidents

A disagreement in the workplace over a colleague discussing a genital Where’s Wally tattoo and someone sticking an Adolf Hitler moustache” on their face featured in more than 6,500 non-crime hate incidents NCHIs) recorded by 28 police forces in Britain last year.

- ALEX ROSS

Forces also recorded a neighbour parking too close to a car, as well as a report of two white females singing a song with “Africa” in its lyrics while a Black woman walked past.

NCHIs should only be recorded by police forces where no criminal offence has been committed but the person reporting it believes the incident is motivated by hostility or prejudice because of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.

Personal data can only be logged if there is a serious risk of significant harm or if it could lead to a criminal offence. They are recorded for officers to gather intelligence on hate incidents in communities. But critics say they are an intrusion on freedom of speech.

Under the Home Office’s guidance, police officers and staff should take a “common sense” approach, and not log trivial, malicious or irrational reports. But freedom of information requests submitted by The Independent show that while many NCHIs clearly meet the threshold for recording, several appear to be questionable.

Bedfordshire Police recorded a “fuss” in a workplace when a colleague described a Where’s Wally tattoo on his genitals as part of an incident logged that also included the worker calling a cap the complainant was wearing a “durag”, which they said “came across as quite racist/stereotypical”.

Cumbria Police recorded an NCHI where two white women sang a song with “Africa” in the lyrics whilst walking past a Black female in a store, which the complainant perceived to be a hate incident due to race.