FOI Hate Crimes York (0093.2022-23)

Request

“In the last year / quarter, there were X NUMBER of Hate Crimes in York / North Yorkshire, X NUMBER of these were motivated by sexual orientation / transgender. Of those X were violence, X were public order etc etc”

Response

A search has been conducted under the 5 main strands of Hate Crime; Racial, Faith, Sexual Orientation, Transgender and Disability plus Misandry and Misogyny. Please find the total number of Hate Crimes recorded between 01/01/21 – 31/12/21 in York, broken down by Hate Crime Strand and Crime Type.

 

I am exempting a full response to your request pursuant to S40(2) – Personal Information of the Freedom of Information Act. This is to refrain from particular incidents becoming identifiable and consequently the personal details of any persons involved being disclosed. However, I have provided disassociated tables of data in order to answer your request.

 

Hate Crimes recorded 01/01/21 – 31/12/21 in York, broken down by Crime Type
HO Level 1	Count
Arson & Criminal Damage	14
Public Order Offences	204
Sexual Offences	1
Theft: All Other Theft	2
Violence Against The Person	145
Total	366

 

Breakdown of the above recorded crimes by Hate Crime Strand
Disability	37
Disability;Gender;Misogyny	1
Domestic;Misandry	1
Domestic;Misogyny	1
Gender;Misogyny	4
Homophobic	56
Homophobic;Disability	1
Homophobic;Domestic	6
Homophobic;Gender	1
Homophobic;Gender;Vulnerable adult	1
Homophobic;Police officer	2
Misogyny	9
Racial	197
Racial;Disability	1
Racial;Domestic	9
Racial;Hate - other	2
Racial;Hist - Irish travellers	1
Racial;Homophobic	8
Racial;Homophobic;Transphobic	1
Racial;Misogyny	1
Racial;Police officer	6
Religion or belief - Anti Jewish	2
Religion or belief - Anti Jewish;Racial	1
Religion or belief - Anti Muslim	2
Religion or belief - Anti Muslim;Racial	2
Religion or belief - Anti Muslim;Religion or belief - Anti other;Racial	1
Transphobic	8
Transphobic;Disability	1
Transphobic;Domestic	3
Total	366

 

Exemption Explanation

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40 – Personal Information

The specific information you have requested is exempt by virtue of Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) because I consider it to be personal information to the people concerned. Information disclosed under the Act is considered released to the world and responses are published on our website.

Section 40(2)(b) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle (that of ‘fairness’.) Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

This exemption applies because the right given under the Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 1998, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned.

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.