Thread by @SpeechUnion

Great news via WeAreFairCop! Non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) are/were a threat to #freespeech in the UK — like @WeAreFairCop and @BadLawTeam, the FSU has supported people who've fallen foul of this sinister form of thoughtpolicing.

Here's a brief 🧵on the history of the NCHI...

Back in 2014, the College of Policing's original guidelines defined NCHIs as incidents “perceived by the victim or any others to be motivated by hostility or prejudice”. Around 20,000 NCHIs have been recorded per year since then.
spiked-online.com/2022/06/01/the…

At the time, NCHIs could be:

1⃣ Reported by the victim or by any other person who witnessed the incident.

2⃣ Recorded irrespective of whether there was any objective evidence to identify the hate element.

They also showed up in enhanced DBS checks for potential employees.

In December 2021, former police officer @HarryTheOwl101 won a landmark legal battle [Miller v College of Policing] against the police recording NCHIs and the then current guidelines were ruled unlawful.
mailplus.co.uk/edition/commen…

The FSU was proud to back Harry in that case. Had he lost and had to pay the other side’s costs, we’d pledged to help with that bill.
freespeechunion.org/weekly-news-ro…

More recently, we helped Kevin Mills. Two years ago, Kevin was handed a #NCHI by the police after refusing to work with a customer who he feared wouldn't pay the bill. The FSU intervened and Kent Police deleted his record earlier this year. The @Telegraph had the story.

Despite this great news that Chief Constables have been ordered to stop recording NCHIs, there's still work for the FSU to do. That’s because police forces in England and Wales aren't required to notify someone if an NCHI is recorded against their name...
freespeechunion.org/an-orwellian-s…

… and because well over 120,000 NCHIs have now been recorded, it’s likely that tens of thousands of people still unwittingly carry one around on their records.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

If you want to know how to find out if you have one against your record, or how you might go about getting one deleted, the FSU has produced this short FAQ on NCHIs.
freespeechunion.org/faqs-on-how-to…

And if you think there’s a risk you’ll be penalised for exercising your legal right to free speech, whether it’s in the workplace or the public square, you need the protection of the FSU. Join us today - membership packages start from just £2.49 a month.
freespeechunion.org/join/