Scottish police have warned that the controversial new hate speech law enacted by the leftist government of Humza Yousaf will force police to cut backs on the policing of actual crimes.
The head of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), David Threadgold, warned on Saturday that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act will necessitate sacrificing other areas of policing due to the strain on officer time recording and investigating complaints of potential speech violations.
Police Scotland was bombarded with over 6,000 complaints since the new speech restrictions came into place on Monday, creating a vaguely-worded criminal offence of “stirring up hatred” against several protected groups with a maximum punishment of up to seven years in prison.
Speaking to The Scotsman, the SPF chairman said: “At some point in the next financial year, the police service will not do something because of the demand that it’s being placed under now… That will have an impact later on in the year, there’s no doubt about it.”
Threadgold explained that overtime payments for the increased demand on policing hours have not been budgeted for and that officers have not been adequately trained on how they are to enforce the speech codes, saying: “What we have been told is confusion is the word that reigns here.”
The former head of the Scottish Police Federation, Calum Steele added that estimates claiming the new hate speech law will add hundreds of thousands of pounds in police expenses are “probably conservative” and that Police Scotland will likely need to “salami slice” its budget to enforce the law.
Steele accused Police Scotland of being “negligently unprepared” and that many of the issues were “entirely foreseeable” but that the force “just did not prepare”.
In addition to the logistical issues of implementing the draconian law, the Act was further thrown into chaos this week after Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling dared police to arrest her as she openly declared that several high-profile transgender ‘women’ are, in fact, men.
The statements seemingly were in violation of the law, with government minister Siobhian Brown previously stating that “misgendering” someone would be a breach of the speech codes. However, apparently reticent to arrest one of the country’s most famous and celebrated residents, Police Scotland said on Tuesday that it would not criminally charge Rowling.
Putting on more pressure, Rowling said that if any woman were to be arrested for saying that a “man is a man”, she would post the same exact message to force the police to arrest her as well.
In a further embarrassment for the leftist Scottish National Party (SNP) government, Humza Yousaf, the first minister of the country — a role similar to that of governor in the U.S. — reportedly received more complaints than Rowling in the first 48 hours of the Act being in place over a 2020 parliamentary rant in which he decried that there were too many white people in government positions and other roles of authority in Scotland, where 95 per cent of the country’s population are white.
Criticising the first minister, Tory member of Scottish Parliament Russell Findlay said: “Humza Yousaf arrogantly refused to listen to anyone who warned that his hate crime law would put extreme pressure on Scotland’s police officers.
“The SNP, backed by Labour, still voted for this terrible legislation despite these practical concerns and freedom of speech fears. It is utterly disgraceful if this results in preventing the police from being unable to fulfil their duties.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “While we have seen a substantial increase in the number of online reports being received since 1 April, these have been managed within our contact centres and have not impacted frontline policing.”