Victims and suspects of racist hate crime across the MPS area from January 2016 to March 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.022952

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. A summary of the number of ‘racist incidents’ and ‘racially motivated hate crimes’ taking place in each of the wards inside your police force area (if that is not possible, I’d like the data broken down by policing neighbourhood, borough, or postcode). I am seeking minimally yearly data for these categories from January 2016 to March 2021, but quarterly data are preferred.

2. If information about the ethnicity of the victim and perpetrator is available, please provide a breakdown of the same information (number of ‘racist incidents’ and ‘racially motivated hate crimes’ by ward by quarter or year from January 2016 to March 2021) by ethnicity of the victim and perpetrator.

3. If information about the type of crime/incident is available, please provide a breakdown of the same information (number of ‘racist incidents’ and ‘racially motivated hate crimes’ by ward by quarter or year from January 2016 to March 2021). For example: bullying, harassment, arson, vandalism, stalking, threats, etc.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40(2)&(3) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

Because of low numbers, we have restricted the data to an annual breakdown by Borough. We believe that any further breakdown by neighbourhood, postcode or quarterly data may lead to the identification of individuals.

A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable for open publication. This is because, under Freedom of Information, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world and not just to one individual.

Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 confirms that information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual is Personal Data. The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.

Disclosure

Please find attached Excel Spreadsheet with relevant data broken down annually for the period requested, by Borough.

Please read the ‘Notes Page’ in conjunction with the data to ensure that it is interpreted correctly.