Domestic abuse in which victim identifies as LGBTQ from January 2017 to June 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025850

I note you seek access to the following information:

I write to request the number of reports of domestic abuse received by this force where the victim identified as part of the LGBTQ community between January 2017 and June 2022.

As part of this request, I would like the information to be broken down into the following:

i) The number of domestic abuse reports received by this force where the victim identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community broken down into months, years and a grand total;

ii) The number of domestic abuse reports received by this force where the victim identified as heterosexual, broken down into months, years and a grand total;

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Only some of the data requested has been retrieved. This is because the Sexual Orientation field on the Crime Report Information System (CRIS) is not mandatory, and can be poorly filled out; therefore it cannot be relied on. We can only obtain information for same sex relationships. Data would not include other domestic relationships (e.g. parents, grandparents etc.) and therefore is not representative of the entire LGBTQ community.

IMPORTANT: Please ensure the notes page of the Excel spreadsheet is read in conjunction with the data.

The Sexual Orientation field on the Crime Report Information System (CRIS) is not mandatory, and can be poorly filled out; therefore it cannot be relied on.

This would explain the very small numbers of victims identifying themselves as heterosexual.