Hate crime – refugees/asylum seekers Jan 2020 to Jun 2021 (1035A/21)
Request
Please send me:
- How many hate crimes have taken place against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in your force from the start of 2020 until today (June 7 2021)?
- Of these hate crimes, how many involved either physical or verbal abuse against refugees, asylum seekers or migrants?
- Please provide a breakdown of where each hate crime was committed. For instance, which neighbourhood policing unit had the highest number of hate crimes? If this exceeds the time limit, would you please send me only the location of the crimes which involved either verbal or physical assaults
Response
Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).This information is not centrally held in a retrievable format.
The cost of compliance with the whole of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, S.I. 3244.
Although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
- How many hate crimes have taken place against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in your force from the start of 2020 until today (June 7 2021)?
There were 77 records for the period 1st Jan 2020 to 7th April 2021.
Unfortunately, due to a major change in West Midlands Police recording systems, the information that you have requested after 7th April 2021 cannot be retrieved. Therefore we are unable to provide the information for this part of your request.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause.
The search criteria applied to this search was “immigration / asylum”.
- Of these hate crimes, how many involved either physical or verbal abuse against refugees, asylum seekers or migrants?
| Offence | Number of Offences |
| ARRANGE OR FACILITATE TRAVEL OF ANOTHER PERSON WITH A VIEW TO EXPLOITATION | 20 |
| ASSAULT OCCASION ABH | 5 |
| COMMON ASSAULT | 4 |
| CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO DWELLING | 1 |
| ENGAGE IN CONTROLLING/COERCIVE BEHAVIOUR IN AN INTIMATE/FAMILY RELATIONSHIP | 2 |
| FALSE IMPRISONMENT | 1 |
| HARASSMENT | 3 |
| HOLD PERSON IN SLAVERY OR SERVITUDE | 8 |
| MULTIPLE UNDEFINED OFFENDERS – RAPE OF FEMALE 16 OR OVER | 1 |
| PURSUE COURSE OF CONDUCT IN BREACH OF S1(1) WHICH AMOUNTS TO STALKING | 1 |
| RAPE OF FEMALE 16 OR OVER | 3 |
| REQUIRE PERSON TO PERFORM FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOUR | 19 |
| ROBBERY-PERSONAL PROPERTY | 1 |
| SEND COMMUNICATION/ARTICLE CONVEYING A THREATENING MESSAGE | 2 |
| SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH FEMALE U16 – OFFENDER 18+ PENETRATION | 1 |
| TAKE MOTOR/VEH W/O OWNER CONSENT | 1 |
| THEFT DWELLING NOT MACHINE/METER | 1 |
| THREATS TO KILL | 2 |
| WILFUL ABANDON YOUNG PERSON UNDER 16 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 77 |
- Please provide a breakdown of where each hate crime was committed. For instance, which neighbourhood policing unit had the highest number of hate crimes? If this exceeds the time limit, would you please send me only the location of the crimes which involved either verbal or physical assaults
| Neighbourhood policing area | Number of Offences |
| Birmingham East | 6 |
| Birmingham West | 40 |
| Coventry | 2 |
| Dudley | 6 |
| Solihull | 2 |
| Sandwell | 11 |
| Walsall | 5 |
| Wolverhampton | 5 |
| Grand Total | 77 |
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