The Coast Guard is redefining how it views harassment across the service, discarding the concept of “hate incidents” and recasting symbols of hatred, including nooses and swastikas, as potentially “politically divisive.”

In the past, the display of such symbols were unambiguously cited in policy as “incidents of hatred and prejudice” that “have no place in the Coast Guard.”

But the revised edition of the policy, which goes into effect next month, raises the bar for proving that displaying hate symbols in public merits punishment.

The new instructions, described in a document titled “Harassing Behavior Prevention, Response and Accountability,” was signed Nov. 13 by the Coast Guard’s assistant commandant for personnel, Rear Adm. Charles E. Fosse.

The policy acknowledges that hate symbols

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