Sammy Wilson calls on police to prioritise 'real crime' over 'non-criminal hate incidents'

The DUP's Sammy Wilson has called on the police to refocus on tackling "real crime" over "non-criminal hate incidents".

The East Antrim MP was speaking in the House of Commons during a Home Office statement on police reform.

Mr Wilson urged the Government to unpick legislation by previous governments which has led to the police focusing on non-criminal offence investigations rather than tackling real crime.

Read more: GAA official suggests possibility of increasing contribution for Casement Park

Read more: NI airports can “take advantage” of Dublin Airport passenger cap, MLAS told

Speaking afterwards Mr Wilson said, “When three police forces are spending a year investigating one tweet, it’s time to stop and reassess priorities.

"Non-criminal hate incidents do not meet the threshold of criminality and often involve subjective interpretations of words or actions. Meanwhile, communities across the UK are grappling with rising levels of violent crime, burglary, and drug-related offenses. It is essential that our police prioritise investigating and preventing these serious offenses rather than dedicating valuable time and manpower to incidents that do not constitute a breach of the law.

"Rather acting as the thought police, our police forces should serve as protectors of public safety, not arbiters of hurt feelings.”

This comes after Essex Police defended it's actions in relation to an investigation into Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson who has been investigated for alleged incitement to racial hatred following a now deleted post on the platform X which she posted in the aftermath of the October 7th attacks.

The post was believed to show an image of two police officers standing next to two men holding what appears to be a flag of the Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The post tags the Metropolitan Police alongside the words “how dare they”.

It adds: “Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.”

X added a notice to the post stating that the image was taken in Manchester, not London, and that it is “not related to Palestine”.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our politics newsletter here.