A street preacher has won compensation from Police Scotland after he was wrongfully arrested and had a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) logged against him for street preaching in Glasgow.
Angus Cameron, 52, who was pastor of Cumnock Baptist Church in Ayrshire at the time of his arrest, has received a £5,500 payout from Police Scotland along with £9,400 in legal costs.
Mr. Cameron has donated all the compensation to The Christian Institute, which supported him throughout his case.
Mr. Cameron was preaching in Buchanan Street in the centre of Glasgow in 2022 when officers from Police Scotland approached him and ordered the father of two to stop.
‘Homophobic Language’
He was approached by a police officer who said she had been told “homophobic language” had been used, which Mr. Cameron strenuously denied. The officer refused to provide any further information and refused to talk to other members of the public who tried to offer testimony that he had not used homophobic language.Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute said, “Angus’s preaching was not targeting individuals; he did not use offensive language; he was not aggressive; he did not try to cause offence; he simply quoted the Bible.”
“There was no criminality at all. The arresting officer mistakenly believed that because someone claimed to be ‘offended’ his preaching was therefore illegal. The arrest was wholly unnecessary and was carried out in a heavy-handed and inappropriate manner. It appeared to Angus that the officer disapproved of his religious beliefs,” he added.
The Christian Institute said it obtained disclosure of internal police documentation, which showed the police had no basis to suspect the preacher had committed any offence, which would be necessary for a lawful arrest.
NCHI
Despite the preacher being told that he would not be prosecuted for breach of the peace, he was told an NCHI would be logged in police records against his name.NCHIs are described as “any non-crime incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice.”
The unsubstantiated complaint against him was still recorded and would be linked to “hate crime” accusations and prosecutions as part of Police Scotland’s “community intelligence” gathering.
Using a Data Subject Access Request, his lawyers obtained internal police papers confirming that, although Police Scotland admitted “there has been no criminality,“ there was a ”shadow” over the preacher’s good name in its records.
Mr. Calvert said that “the police papers revealed clear errors in the handling and recording of this incident.”
“Despite the police knowing full well that the complaint against him did not amount to a criminal offence, this innocent pastor was informed his good name was to be associated with ‘hatred: and potential criminality in police records.’”
Scottish Hate Crime Laws
Scotland is taking a hard line on hate crime in anticipation of Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf’s “stirring up hatred” laws coming into effect sometime this year.“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.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman told The Epoch Times by email, “We acknowledge that this case settled on the basis of compensation being paid to the pursuer.”
She added that the specialist hate crime unit “is still under consideration.”
