Police Scotland Considers Unit to Prepare for Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Bill

Police boss Faroque Hussain said the bill will ‘bring to justice those perpetrators of hate against protected people.’

First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf tours the recently completed Clarice Pears building during a to visit to the University of Glasgow on May 26, 2023. Robert Perry/PA

Police Scotland is considering setting up a specialist unit aimed at policing hate crimes in anticipation of Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf’s “stirring up hatred” laws coming into effect next year.

Police Scotland told The Epoch Times that it is considering establishing a dedicated hate crime unit by November and that it is “working hard to ensure” it is prepared for implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order Act.

The bill, which is expected to take effect in early 2024, has been described as the most “illiberal and censorious bill in any liberal democracy in the world,” by a broad range of free speech groups.

Hate Crime Law

The Scottish National Party’s bill, introduced by Mr. Yousaf when he was justice secretary, was approved by the Scottish Parliament in 2021 and has received Royal Ascent, but has been dormant since.

The bill has been criticised as authoritarian because it could place further restrictions on what can and cannot be said in a public forum.

The Scottish Government says the new act is designed to make hate crime law “fit for the 21st century“ and defines hate crime as the phrase used to ”describe behaviour which is both criminal and based on prejudice.”

“Stirring up hatred offences” will apply to characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, and variations in sex characteristics, which some argue will clash with the expression of views on all manner of subjective beliefs.

At one point, Mr. Yousaf said he intended to clamp down on so-called hate speech inside the home.

In England, there is no such thing legislatively as a “hate crime,” but there are several pieces of relevant legislation under which people can be prosecuted for offences towards protected characteristics, such as the Communications Act 2003 or the Public Order Act 1986.

Police Scotland's Clyde Gateway headquarters at Dalmarnock, Glasgow, on Jan. 5, 2020. PA

‘Fully Investigated’

Assistant Chief Constable Faroque Hussain told The Epoch Times by email that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act “creates new offences and increases the number of protected characteristics from five to seven.”