Overview

• The Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the case against 60-year-old John Steele, ruling prosecution was not in the public interest.
• South Yorkshire Police said its Professional Standards Department found officers’ use of Section 50 powers proportionate after reviewing body-worn footage.
• Steele was arrested on June 21 for refusing to provide personal details when officers sought to record a non-crime hate incident following a harassment complaint.
• At Rotherham police station, officials fingerprinted and took a DNA swab from Steele before releasing him without charges.
• The case has reignited scrutiny of non-crime hate incident logs, which have exceeded 250,000 entries in England and Wales since 2014.