The police have enough to do without looking into things that, by their very definition, are not a crime. Despite this, nearly 120,000 “non-crime” hate incidents have been reported in England and Wales – of which the most famous might become Harry Miller’s.

Yesterday, the High Court ruled that a probe into some of Mr Miller’s tweets about transgenderism was unlawful. Only one person complained, and although what Mr Miller wrote was controversial, it was clear that it did not amount to an offence. Nevertheless, a police officer contacted Mr Miller and misrepresented the number and nature of the complaints, giving Mr Miller the impression that he might be prosecuted if he continued to tweet. Mr Miller says the police officer added “I need to check your thinking” (Pc Mansoor Gul denies this). This would be Orwellian.

Mr Justice Julian Knowles was scathing in his judgment of Mr Miller’s treatment, but he defended the College of Policing’s guidelines on “non-crime hate incidents”, even though they are the source of the problem. The guidelines speak of incidents that are “perceived… to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice” and which are to be recorded “irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identify the hate element”.

The law is supposed to be clear and objective – justice is famously blind – and yet the guidelines draw the police into matters of subjective interpretation, often without any clear purpose.

What was the point of contacting Mr Miller if not to issue a warning or dissuade him from tweeting? Pc Gul said he was trying to gather information. It sounds sinister precisely because it is so vague. Putting aside the visions of 1984, Pc Gul, under the direction of his force, was wasting the taxpayer’s time and money. Mr Miller says the phone call alone lasted 34 minutes, time in which an officer could have investigated a burglary – although, as recent figures show, some police forces seem to have stopped bothering doing that.

The police say that they are working hard and that they just do not have the money or time to attend every crime scene. In which case, why is so much effort going into recording non-crimes?

The Government promises 20,000 new police officers and, yes, the country needs them. But the Home Office must make sure that they are deployed to tackle actual crime, not people’s opinions.