Reported crimes were committed against LGBTQ+ community from January 2015 to June 2023
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031113
I note you seek access to the following information:
1. How many reported crimes were committed against LGBTQ+ with the time period.
2. How many were male and how many were female.
3. Were there any charges implements by the CPS and if so, what act were they crimed under.
4. How many convictions were completed for discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
5. What support is given to the LGBTQ+ community via the met.
6. How many reports of discrimination of active police officers that are LGBTQ+ themselves.
7. How many officers have been convicted of such crimes, lost their job or put on a probation.
8. How many specified hate crimes have been reported again Trans children and young adults.
CLARIFICATION -
Date Period: 2015 to 2023, broken down on a yearly basis.
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 of the FOIA.
Reason for decision
Before I explain reasons for the decisions that I have made in relation to your request, I thought that it would be helpful to outline the parameters set out by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), within which a request for information can be answered. The Act creates a statutory right of access to information held by public authorities. A public authority in respect of a request must, if permitted, state under Section 1(a) of the Act, whether it holds the requested information and, if held, then communicate that information to the applicant under Section 1(b) of the Act.
The right of access to information is not without exception and is subject to a number of exemptions which are designed to enable public authorities to withhold information that is unsuitable for release. Importantly, the Act is designed to place information into the public domain, that is, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered public information and must be communicated to any individual should a request be received.
I have considered your request for information (question 8 in parts), for the period of 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2023, relating to:
• How many specified hate crimes have been reported against Trans Children (age 17 and under).
The above requests for information is exempt under:
Section 40(2)(3) - Personal information of the FOIA.
You have requested specific recorded data on the number of specified hate crimes reported against Trans Children (age 17 and under) broken down by calendar year.
This information is not suitable for public consumption. Should the MPS publish the requested data as specified within the scope of your request broken-down by calendar year showing low numbers of records, it would be at such a level that would make the identification of individuals (victims/perpetrators) extremely possible. To produce and publish this information would not be lawful, fair or in line with our processing commitments. Thus, disclosure of the information requested, relating to hate crimes reported against Trans Children (age 17 and under) is exempt
Section 40(2)(3)&(4) – Personal Information - The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.
The information sought under your Freedom of Information request (broken-down by calendar year), includes the following which we consider to be Personal Data:
The number of specified hate crimes reported against Trans children (age 17 and under).
Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.
In order to apply the Section 40(2) exemption, the disclosure of the requested information must satisfy either the first, second or third conditions as defined by subsections 3A, 3B and 4A of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (as amended by Section 58 of the Data Protection Act 2018).
The first condition ensures that the exemption would apply in circumstances where the disclosure of the information would breach any of the Data Protection Act 2018 principles.
There are six Data Protection principles set out in the 2018 Act and these can be found at section 34.
In this instance I have decided that the disclosure of the Personal Data would be incompatible with the first Data Protection principle which states that the processing (in this case the disclosure) of the data must be both lawful and fair.
When looking at disclosing the requested information, I have considered various pieces of guidance, including the ICO’s guidance which examines a number of issues relating to the disclosure of crime data.
I have, when looking at the data, considered the following, broadly equivalent factors when making my decision:
• The time periods.
• Sensitivity of the crimes.
• The availability of other sources of information.
• The effect on victims/perpetrators.
It is often believed that such information, is unlikely to allow anyone to actually identify those and ‘there would be no way of knowing who these people were unless you were a witness to the crime’ for example. However, when considering identifiability, we have to assume that we are not looking just at the means reasonably likely to be used by the ordinary person in the street, but also the means that are likely to be used by a determined person (or a ‘motivated intruder’) with a particular reason to want to identify individuals. Examples would include investigative journalists, estranged partners, stalkers, to name but a few.
If this level of data was to be disclosed, it could be pieced together with information already known by individuals or already in the public domain in order to identify the individuals involved. For example, individuals may be partially aware of certain details of an alleged crime through word of mouth, witnessing an incident or police presence.
Therefore, where the request is seeking information that would essentially allow access to third party personal data (such as in this case) the Section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.
Disclosure
Q1 - How many reported crimes were committed against LGBTQ+ with the time period.
Q2 - How many were male and how many were female.
Q8 - How many specified hate crimes have been reported against young adults.
Please find below a spreadsheet for the period of 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2023, broken-down by calendar year, in which the requested information has been provided.
IMPORTANT:
• Please ensure that the note section within the spreadsheet is read in conjunction with the data in the report to ensure that it is interpreted correctly
Q3 - Were there any charges implements by the CPS and if so, what act were they crimed under.
Q4 - How many convictions were completed for discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
The information you have requested is not held by the MPS.
Please note that the police service is responsible for the investigation of offences, however the subsequent prosecution - and potentially a conviction - would be a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Below is a link to request information from Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service - How to make a FOI request
Q5 - What support is given to the LGBTQ+ community via the met.
The Met LGBT+ Network is an internal staff support association and doesn’t provide direct support to external LGBT+ communities.
The Met LGBT+ Network does however support CPIE (Crime Prevention, Inclusion and Engagement) with advice with regards the LGBT+ community internally as and when needed.
The MPS does also have an LGBT+ IAG who are representative of the community and provide advice to the MPS with regards the external community. More information can be found:
LGBT+ Independent Advisory Group
In addition, the MPS also employs LGBT+ Community Liaison Officers, whose role is explained here:
LGBT+ community liaison officers
Q6 - How many reports of discrimination of active police officers that are LGBTQ+ themselves.
The searches within the MPS, failed to locate any information relevant to your request. Therefore, the information you have requested is not held by the MPS.
Q7 - How many officers have been convicted of such crimes, lost their job or put on a probation.
The searches within the MPS, failed to locate any information relevant to your request. Therefore, the information you have requested is not held by the MPS.