Nationality of victims of hate crime offences from April 2012 to March 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.024219

I note you seek access to the following information:

From 1 April 2012 to the date of this request:

• number of all hate crimes per month where the nationality field has been completed regardless of what it is.

• number of hate crimes per month where the nationality field had been completed and where it is mentioning Russian nationality.

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 30(1)(a)(i) – Criminal Investigations
Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

You have asked for the number of all hate crimes per month where the nationality field has been completed, and the number of hate crimes per month where the nationality field has been completed and is shown as Russian, from 01/04/2012 to the date of your request.

I have made the decision to disclose the information you are seeking, however, due to extremely low figures found in relation to hate crimes where the nationality field had been completed and recorded as Russian, I am unable to break this data down by month as you have requested. Disclosure of the located data broken down by month could identify individuals and release sensitive information about those individuals into the public domain; in the case of later offences this would also prejudice ongoing investigations. I have therefore made the decision to disclose the data broken down by year, and not by month as you have requested.

Section 30(1)(a)(i) – Criminal Investigations - The release of any further information could impact upon ongoing investigations. The outcome for some of the offences have yet to be determined therefore, to release any further information would compromise our law enforcement investigative functions. Any disclosure, which would prejudice an ongoing investigation and therefore hinder an individual’s right to a fair trial cannot be in the public interest.

There is a public interest in the transparency of the investigation of crime and providing assurance that the MPS is appropriately and effectively dealing with criminal activity.

However, there is also a strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police investigations, by not releasing information that could hinder that investigation and prejudice the outcome of any legal proceedings.

After weighing up the competing interests I have determined that the disclosure of the further information you have requested but which has not been disclosed in this response, would not be in the public interest. I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being disclosed does not outweigh the considerations favouring non-disclosure, particularly given the level of information disclosed today.

Section 40(2)(3)&(4) – Personal Information - Under Section 40(2) and (3) of the Act, Public Authorities are able to withhold information where its release would identify any living individual and breach the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). I have applied this exemption because if we were to provide the information you are seeking, broken down in the format you have requested, this would identity individuals which would be in breach of the rights provided by the DPA.

There are six data protection principles that are set out in Section 34 of the Data
Protection Act 2018. The first principle requires that the disclosure of the requested personal data must be lawful and fair.

Please see the disclosure section below for information that has been located and assessed as suitable for disclosure.

Disclosure

Please see the attached spreadsheet for information relevant to your request.

Please ensure that the data is read in conjunction with the notes page of the attached spreadsheet to ensure correct interpretation of the data provided.

Please note: although not requested I have also included data for the number of all hate crimes per month where the nationality field has not been completed, as this was provided to me by our analysts and may be of interest to you.