First minister calls for end to vexatious reports after far-right agitators attempt to ‘overwhelm’ official systems

First minister calls for end to vexatious reports after far-right agitators attempt to ‘overwhelm’ official systems

Neo-Nazi and far-right agitators are exploiting Scotland’s new hate crime law to make vexatious complaints en masse in an attempt to “overwhelm” police systems.

A prominent figure in England’s white nationalist movement is among those urging followers to spam Police Scotland with anonymous online reports, the *Observer *has found.

The leader of a far-right group – one of several fringe organisations being assessed by the UK government under its new extremism definition – promoted a private channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram that includes a “call to action” urging members to “mass report”.

Posts in the channel instruct members to log cases of supposed “anti-white” hate, which they say includes a statement on the police force’s website that “young men aged 18-30 are most likely to commit hate crime”.

  • Minotaur@lemm.eeEnglish
    574·
    8 months ago

    Anonymous complaints are a good thing, it’s often important to be able to report something non-publicly. It’s just being exploited here.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.todayEnglish
      103·
      8 months ago

      The fact that this system can be exploited by neo Nazis should tell you that it can be exploited by anyone. Including the cops who will be investigating these complaints.

    • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
      72·
      8 months ago

      Non-public and anonymous are not the same thing. I don’t know about your jurisdiction but when you file a criminal complaint police do take down your name and address, if you’re worried about retaliation or such there’s ways to have all public records under a pseudonym and e.g. your lawyer’s address, but the state will still know who you actually are.

      You can also give an anonymous tip to the police – but those don’t ever reach the level of complaint. Police and prosecutors can toss such a statement without much fanfare, even if they don’t they can’t follow-up with questions, you’re way less credible as a witness, especially since you can’t be nailed for false accusation, at least not without investigators hunting you down. You can’t file an accessory suit (that is, be a co-prosecutor) because courts definitely don’t deal with anonymous people, if they anonymise the public record then because they think it’s the right thing to do to serve justice, not because you don’t want to show your face to at least the judge(s).