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Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035782
I note you seek access to the following information:
I'm writing to seek the following information on racial hate crimes and/or hate incidents towards the following ethnic groups:
And would like data for the following years, broken down by each month:
Request:
Provide the number of racist hate crimes and/or hate incidents reported where the victim(s) comprise the Relevant Groups, broken down by each group where possible.
Please provide the data for my request in an Excel spreadsheet format with suggested row headings by year and month, with column headings:
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) – Investigations.
Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information
Reason for decision
I note that you are seeking data in relation to racial hate crimes and/or hate incidents towards individuals from a list of ethnicities, from 2017 to 2023, broken down by year, month, and ethnicity/ethnic appearance.
I have made the decision to disclose the total number of crime records located, broken down by month and year. However, in the case of non-crime racist hate incidents, please be advised that because extremely low figures have been identified this data has been disclosed broken down by year, and data for 2023 and 24 has been combined. If we were to disclose the data broken down by month, as you have requested, when the type of incident and ethnicity of the victim has also been disclosed, this would identify incidents and individuals concerned. This would release extremely sensitive personal information about individuals into the public domain and could also prejudice investigations. For these reasons Section 30(1)(a)(i), of the Act, which provides an exemption for information prejudicial to investigations, and Section 40(2)(3A)(a) of the Act, which provides an exemption for personal information, have both been applied to refuse disclosure in this case.
Section 30(1)(a)(i) – Law Enforcement - Disclosing the information broken down as requested could impact upon ongoing investigations. If we were to regularly disclose information in a manner that could lead to specific incidents and individuals being identified, this would also lead to people not reporting incidents to police. This would impact on our ability to detect and prevent crime and prosecute offenders and could lead to an escalation in offences/incidents which would also be prejudicial to law enforcement.
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 hate crime and hate incidents.
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.
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 – which I believe satisfies the wider public interest.
Section 40(2)(3)&(4) – Personal Information - 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. Under the Act, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:
a. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
b. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
c. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.
The requested information if disclosed could identify specific investigations and individuals concerned and release extremely sensitive information in relation to victims of hate crime/incidents into the public domain.
Having considered the data, I have found, having considered the legitimate interest test, that any further break down would not be in accordance with the first principle. Although I understand there is an interest in the information you are seeking, I believe this interest has been satisfied by the release of the disclosed information. I do not believe that providing any more details, when there is a reasonable risk that the additional information would identify individuals involved, and prejudice investigations, would add to any wider public debate that may be ongoing.
Furthermore, I do not think it would be fair to the victims of hate crime if information was disclosed that identified them in a Freedom of Information response.
Disclosure
Please see attached spreadsheet for data relevant to your request. Please ensure that the data provided is read in conjunction with the notes page of the attached spreadsheet to ensure correct interpretation of the data provided.
Please note. It has not been possible to break the data down by the ethnic groups you have listed.
Please also see the caveats below in relation to the data provided:
Caveats: