A dog has been blamed for a racial hate crime for fouling outside the front door of somebody’s home.

The poo-and-run is among 2,500 reported cases of hate crimes logged by the Met Police because ‘the victim perceived this to be a racial incident’.

Other allegations investigated by officers in 2015 and 2016 included an envelope being opened and resealed and a man telling library staff he was campaigning for Brexit.

The victim perceived the dog fouling as racially motivated (Picture: Getty)

The 2,507 alleged hate incidents were revealed after a Freedom of Information request by the The Mail on Sunday.


In the dog fouling incident, the log read: ‘An unknown dog has fouled outside of victim address and victim perceived this to be a racial incident.’

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In another case, it was suggested a barking dog was a hate crime. Police wrote: ‘Suspect’s dog barking at victim.’



David Davies, Tory MP and former special constable, said the recording of such ‘non-crimes’ was a waste of police time.

‘This is part of the reason that police struggle to investigate serious offences such as home burglaries,’ he told the paper.

‘People need to start thinking more carefully before they call the police.’

Under current rules, police must record any allegation of a hate incident – even if it is not perceived to be a crime (Picture: PA)

Other complaints included a person who felt a bus driver had given them a ‘racist look’ and an angry dad who called police when his daughter lost a tennis match because he believed the umpire to be racist.

‘Informant feels his daughter was subjected to racial discrimination at a tennis match where line calls went against her,’ the police log read.

Disputes between neighbours were common among the reported incidents – including one person who battled with their next door neighbour over parking and ‘recently found a dead rat in garden and perceives this to be racist’.

Current rules see police record any allegation described as motivated by prejudice as a hate incident, even if it is not serious enough to be regarded as a crime.

Control room staff are required to note down the details of the complaint – even if someone does not want any police action to be taken.

Official figures published in October revealed hate crimes had soared over the past year, but it only takes into account those reported to police.

Nearly 2,000 incidents are reported every week, a rise of 17% compared to last year.

According to the Home Office, there were 94,098 hate crimes recorded in 2017-18.

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