Against a background of rising hate crime reported in
recent years, police forces are today urged by Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services to
prioritise the service to victims, in its first ever report into
hate crime.
The report emphasises the importance of the police getting
their response right first time and at the beginning of their
contact with victims. Unless victims feel confident
in coming forward and police forces ensure hate crime is recorded
properly, there is limited opportunity to root out and
proactively prevent hate crime from taking hold within
communities.
The report also identified several forces where positive
and innovative practice took place, amongst which:
-
Gwent: used hate crime ‘champions’ to offer victims
follow-up support and had in place a ‘cyber community support
officer’ as recognition that hate crime is increasingly taking
place in online communities;
-
Greater Manchester Police: raised awareness and provided
training, often in association with community organisations, to
help officers understand policing in diverse communities;
and
-
West Yorkshire: used a multi-agency risk management
approach and involved local communities in scrutinising the
police approach to hate crime.
HMI Wendy Williams, who led this inspection, said:
“Hate crime is personal and pervasive; and the police
frequently only have just one chance to identify it. If the
victim is given the right support further offending can be
prevented, and a force and national picture of hate crime can be
built, allowing wider preventative activity.
“Ultimately, confidence in the police and community
cohesion can be strengthened by one well-placed question to a
victim about why the perpetrator acted as they did; or weakened
by a missed opportunity to properly record that someone was
victimised because of their personal circumstances.
“We found many examples of individual police officers and
staff dealing professionally, sensitively and effectively with
victims. We also found positive practice in the approach of the
forces we visited, but this tended to be as a result of the
dedication of specific teams or individuals. We need such
good practice to be consistent, both within forces and across all
forces.
“We make some recommendations our report, aimed at
improving systems and processes. But most are about police forces
supporting their officers and staff so that they have the skills,
confidence and professional curiosity to talk to victims and
witnesses about all the facts and circumstances of a
case.”
A victim of hate crime said:
‘It's very a depressing and demoralising feeling that
you're left with, but you can't let these people see that they've
affected you, you just try to get on with your
life.’
The inspection which
took place last year, revealed that some forces:
-
incorrectly flagged hate incidents and crimes;
-
did not gather comprehensive data about hate crime
victims;
-
did not gather sufficient intelligence about hate
crime;
-
did not always provide adequate information to hate crime
victims; and
-
did not consistently refer hate crime victims to support
services
However, the inspection identified that police forces
across the country have worked hard to raise the awareness of
hate crime among staff and in their communities, and most forces
have produced information on hate crime and how to report
it.
Additionally, there is evidence of concerted efforts by the
police to work with local communities and organisations to
promote reporting opportunities.
Nevertheless, the report identified that a consistent level
of training needs to be in place, to support police officers and
staff and enable them to respond appropriately to
victims.
Notes
-
This report was commissioned by last year.
-
HMICFRS took data from all 43 police forces in England
and Wales, and carried out more detailed fieldwork in six
forces.
3. Data
was taken from the Crime Survey of England and Wales from 2012/13
to 2014 which estimated that on average there were 222,000 hate
incidents per year. Over the same period, the CSEW found that
only 48 percent of hate crimes were brought to the attention of
the police.
-
Police data is monitored for the following
characteristics to record it as a hate crime:
-
race or ethnicity;
-
religion or beliefs;
-
sexual orientation;
-
disability; or
-
transgender identity.
5. Racial
hate crime represented the largest motivating factor for recorded
hate crime, accounting for 70 percent of all motivating factors
in 2016/17, followed by sexual orientation hate crime which
accounted for 11 percent of all recorded hate crime.
6. HMICFRS
has been working with Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution
Inspectorate on a joint inspection of disability hate crime,
which will be published later in the year.
