Checks on ‘revisiting all previous reports’ regarding Hate crimes

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.026006

I note you seek access to the following information:

‘Inspector Walton explained that the Police were revisiting all previous reports to see if hate crime had been a factor’.

‘Police officers could issue conditional cautions in the case of hate crime, such as misogyny, and offenders could clear the condition by attending a relevant course’.

Please will you:
(a) state how many officers were involved in ‘revisiting all previous reports’, and how many times hate crime has been found to be ‘a factor’;

(b) state whether the MPS considers ‘misogyny’ to be a hate crime, and if it does so, point to the statute that legitimises such a view; and

(c) state what ‘relevant’ courses are used, who they are run by, and how often ‘the condition’ has been taken up.

Decision

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

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

(a) - state how many officers were involved in ‘revisiting all previous reports’, and how many times hate crime has been found to be ‘a factor’;

MPS NE-CU set up an email address as a temporary measure for MOP (Members of the Public) to email and report their concerns (as they weren’t being formally recorded as Crimes). This was an interim measure until LBWF (London Borough of Waltham Forest) launched their reporting app and the UK police service launched its street safe website. The information from both of these sources is what is used to guide our BCU VAWG (Violence against Women and Girls) work. The mailbox was deleted once the other sources where operational. There was limited things reported to the mailbox when it was operational.

The reports being reviewed relate to the info in the mailbox being cross referenced with the locations we already knew where street harassment / VAWG hotspots. An officer, as part of their existing role also contacted victims of Hate crime in the past to check the quality of the reports and follow up on CATCH (Community Alliance to Combat Hate) referrals.

The HCOP (Hate Crime Outcome and Performance Officer) role has been in place for approximately 18months now and the Officer reviews the previous 24hrs for flagged hate crimes and looks for any non-flagged crimes which have a hate crime element and need to be flagged as such. It is a full time role for one officer (40hrs a week).

and how many times hate crime has been found to be ‘a factor’;

The MPS response is No Information Located.

(b) - state whether the MPS considers ‘misogyny’ to be a hate crime, and if it does so, point to the statute that legitimises such a view; and

The Law Commission concluded in its ‘Hate Crime Laws: Final Report’ (published 7 December 2021) that making misogyny a hate crime may be: “more harmful than helpful, both to victims of violence against women and girls, and also efforts to tackle hate crime more broadly” and that “…we have reached the view that hate crime recognition would not be an effective solution to the very real problem of violence, abuse and harassment of women and girls in England and Wales, and may in fact be counterproductive in some respects.”

The Met is aware of the need to further assess the calls for misogyny as a hate crime, not just within London but nationally. The Met remains closely engaged with UK policing nationally and awaits any further confirmation through the Home Office, the UK Government and any recommendations from the Law Commission, as to what the expectations of policing will be. In the meantime, we are aware that national work is taking place seeking to learn lessons from forces which are already recording gender based crimes as hate crime.

We are committed to tackling all Violence Against Women and Girls, whatever the motivation behind it may be. We will liaise with the National Police Chief’s Council regarding any further changes that are required.

©state what ‘relevant’ courses are used, who they are run by, and how often ‘the condition’ has been taken up.

The MPS does not currently offer formal diversion schemes for hate crimes through conditional cautions. The current Director of Public Prosecutions’ Guidance on Conditional Cautioning states:

3.1 Generally offences involving domestic abuse or hate crime will not be suitable for Conditional Caution[s]. However, there are rare cases when, because of the nature of the crime or the circumstances of the offender, exceptionally a Conditional Caution could be considered. Any such case considered by the police as suitable for a Conditional Caution must be referred to a prosecutor.

Any decision concerning the issuing of a conditional caution for a hate crime must be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will introduce a new adult framework for out of court disposals which will replace penalty notices for disorder, simple cautions and conditional cautions, with two new types of caution (community caution and diversionary caution, a lower and upper tier outcome respectively) to which at least one condition must be applied. The Ministry of Justice’s new Code of Practice will provide guidance on the application of the new cautions to hate crime and domestic abuse, and suitable diversionary programmes are being currently scoped ahead of the proposed implementation date in April 2023.