Achi news desk-
Most of the reports were made anonymously. Police Scotland said the impact on services was “minimal”.
The Act consolidated previous hate crime legislation and created a new offense of inciting hatred against certain protected characteristics – which had been on the statute book for race since 1986.
READ MORE: Police Scotland will not record ‘hate incident’ against Rowling or FM
Throughout its journey in 2020 and 2021, the legislation raised fears about its impact on free speech and attracted many prominent critics, including author JK Rowling who feared it could criminalize those who criticize the Scottish Government’s policy on gender recognition.
Ms Rowling made a number of messages on the first day the law was in force misgendering a number of trans people, effectively challenging Police Scotland to charge her.
But Police Scotland took no action saying Ms Rowling’s posts were “not assessed to be criminal”.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “This data highlights the significant increase in the number of online hate reports received since 1 April.
“This significant demand continues to be managed within our contact centers and so far the impact on frontline policing, our ability to answer calls and respond to those who need our help in communities across Scotland has been very small.
“All complaints received are reviewed by officers, supported by dedicated hate crime advisers, and dealt with appropriately, whether that is taken forward for further assessment, or be closed as they do not meet the criteria under the legislation”.
READ MORE: What are Scotland’s new Hate Crime Laws?
Meanwhile, Scottish Green MP Ross Greer has said that the Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Act has not made it illegal to “be an asshole”.
Speaking to the BBC’s Podlitical podcast, Mr Greer – a senior member of the Scottish Greens – said it had not been made illegal to be unpleasant or offensive.
“It’s not illegal to be an asshole now,” he said.
“It wasn’t illegal to be an asshole before and for the last week it still hasn’t been illegal to be an asshole.”
But he added: “That doesn’t mean you should be.”
Mr Greer emphasized that he was not referring specifically to the author Harry Potter, but that he was making a generalisation.
He continued: “Just because it’s still legal to be offensive doesn’t mean you should go out of your way to be offensive.
“There are plenty of things that are not illegal to do, but in a decent society we don’t generally encourage people to do them.
“We should all be trying to be as pleasant and decent to each other as possible, whether the law allows it or not.
“I think we as a society should hold ourselves to a higher standard than the criminal law.
“If the highest standard we can set for ourselves and each other is the criminal law – that is an abysmally low standard.”
