Policies in relation to Antisemitism

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.034605

I note you seek access to the following information:

• How do officers deem something as anti-Semitic?

• How does the police make that decision online and at a protest? Is it just a judgement call? If so why would you ever post pictures of individuals you’re speculating have committed a crime?

• What decision-making tools do the officers use when classing something as anti-Semitic?

Decision

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

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

- How do officers deem something as anti-Semitic?

The following definitions are shared by all criminal justice agencies and form the basis for national hate crime data recording.

“A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on:

a person’s race or perceived race:
any racial group or ethnic background including countries within the UK and Gypsy and Traveller groups

a person’s religion or perceived religion:
any religious group including those who have no faith in a theology

a person’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation:
any person’s sexual orientation

a person’s disability or perceived disability:
any disability including physical disability, learning disability and mental health or developmental disorders

a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender:
including people who are transsexual, transgender, cross dressers and those who hold a Gender Recognition Certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004”

- How does the police make that decision online and at a protest? Is it just a judgement call? If so why would you ever post pictures of individuals you’re speculating have committed a crime?

The Police use legislation and national policy to consider if an offence has been committed. The National crime recording standards explain:
The police register an incident report for all reports of incidents (whether from victims, witnesses or third parties and whether crime related or not).

An incident is recorded as a crime (notifiable offence) if – on the balance of probability – the circumstances as reported amount to a crime defined by law, and there is no credible evidence to the contrary. Once recorded, a crime remains so unless there is additional verifiable information to disprove it.

It is using this policy and existing legislation that incidents / crimes are recorded. Furthermore to identify any individual suspected of a crime the Police have a number of options; circulating images is one of these options. Once an individual has been identified, the image is removed from circulation and the suspect added the crime report. They will then be interviewed for the offence they are suspected of committing.

- What decision-making tools do the officers use when classing something as anti-Semitic?

The College of Police Authorised Professional Practice titled ‘Responding to Hate’ states:

“Perception-based recording

Recording hate crimes
Any crime may be motivated by hostility. Where the victim, or any other person, perceives that they have been targeted because of hate or hostility against a monitored or non-monitored personal characteristic, the crime should be recorded and flagged as a hate crime. Police officers and staff should establish core facts, as they would for any crime, including why the victim, or those reporting, perceived the crime to be motivated by hostility.”

There is no decision making tool, if the officer or anyone perceives something to be a hate crime, we will record as such.

PUBLISHED INFORMATION
The following published documents are also relevant to your request for information:

MPS Website: What is a hate crime?

College of Policing Website: Responding to Hate

Crown Prosecution Service: Hate Crime

Government Website: Hate Crime

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
Under Section 16 of the Act, there is a duty to advise and assist those that have made, or intend to make, a request for information. In accordance with this duty, I can confirm that the MPS publishes information about various types of crime on its website. I have provided a link to this information below.

MPS Website: Stats and Data

It may also assist you to note that the MPS proactively publishes all disclosures made in response to requests made under the Act on its Publication Scheme. I have provided a link to this section of the MPS website below.

MPS Publication Scheme

The MPS Publication Scheme can be searched using keywords and may accordingly hold other information that is of interest to you.