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Non-crime hate incidents are to be scrapped under new plans drawn up by police chiefs as the current system is no longer “fit for purpose”.

Senior officers will introduce a new “common sense” system which treats “hate” incidents as “intelligence reports”.

Only “the most serious category of what will be treated as anti-social behaviour will be recorded”, Lord Herbert, the chairman of the College of Policing said.

Chiefs are expected to present the plans to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood next month. They are likely to be backed.

Lord Herbert said: “NCHIs will go as a concept. That system will be scrapped and replaced with a completely different system.

“There will be no recording of anything like it on crime databases. Instead, only the most serious category of what will be treated as anti-social behaviour will be recorded. It’s a sea change.”

Non-crime hate incidents are incidents that do not count as crimes but are perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards certain characteristics such as race or gender.

Lord Herbert said the current system, introduced after the Macpherson Inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder, is no longer “fit for purpose” because of social media and advances in technology.

He said: “It’s drawn police into an area that I don’t believe they wanted to be in,” he said. “Police have been caricatured that they wanted to be involved in this, but I haven’t met a copper who does.”

Under the plans, police forces will be instructed not to log “hate” incidents on crime databases and instead treat them only as “intelligence” reports.

And officers will be issued with a “common sense” checklist to go through before they take any action, to prevent police from intervening in spats over tweets or offensive comments.

The Met faced widespread fury after Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was arrested over social media posts about transgender issues.

The 57-year-old Irish comedy writer was arrested at Heathrow Airport after flying in from Arizona in September, on suspicion of inciting violence over three posts he had made on X.

The arrest sparked controversy, with Conservative politicians and Harry Potter author JK Rowling among those who voiced their outrage.

But the case was dropped.

Following Linehan’s arrest in September, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers were in “an impossible position” when dealing with statements made online.