West Yorkshire sees biggest rise in LGBT hate crime

[Doyoumind]

It's a Guardian story.

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/homophobic-and-transphobic-hate-crimes-surge-in-england-and-wales

I thought it was interesting that the highest increase was in WY. I think there is more behind the stats than the article implies (no surprise).

Of course there is hate crime happening and it's wrong. It would be useful to interrogate the data further though.

Given the fact that they define "hate crime" as 'anything a person says they don't like as long as they're in one of the hate crime groups (which doesn't include women)', I'd have been shocked if there hadn't been a big jump within the stats.

Those lesbians at Cafe Nero who were reported during Bradford Pride - they're part of this year's statistics on "hate crime" now.

Exactly. But it's useful for the Guardian to ignore why there might have been such a rise.

I'm not clicking on any Guardian link, but I imagine in West Yorkshire wearing the wrong t-shirt, or tweeting wrong think is a crime then it's hardly surprising

They'll be able to apply for more funding to educate everyone to combat this shocking rise in hate. And make that compulsory education in schools. Transparent as fuck.

I assume this relates to where the report is made rather than where the hate crime actually takes place.

If so then not only does this apply to hate crimes happening in West Yorkshire but probably also applies to hate crimes happening anywhere in the country since if the victim is in WY, they can report locally anything they see on the Internet that they find troubling.

Given that Cllr Sarah Fields & Dr Heather Brunskell Evans were reported for 'hate crimes' following their recent speeches in Leeds for women's sex-based rights these statistics need to be carefully considered.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3595007-Leeds-Councillor-thanks-Mumsnet-FWR-in-gender-critical-speech

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3604612-Heather-Brunskell-Evans-reported-to-W-Yorks-Police-for-alleged-hate-crime

I suspect that it is not actually that much (if any) of an increase in hate crime,.more the recording of them. I'd also suspect a pile of them are "hate incidents".

Mermaids etc give guidance about what consitutes a 'hate crime' & run workshops at their residential camps on how to report.

That their CEO Susie Green has made many of these without any being prosecuted let alone resulting in conviction should lead to questions being asked.

I wonder how their stats for male vs female violence are looking too....

Could we fund some proper research into hate crime statistics?

Miranda Yardley was also initially reported to West Yorkshire police for a hate crime by Helen Islan.

And yes, Susie Green reported Caroline Farrow to WYP for a hate crime.

And Susie Green also reported Posie Parker to WYP for a hate crime. A couple of times as I recall.

Most of Hayden's "hate crimes" also originated with WYP.

Wow that list of people reported to WYP is shocking. Why so many in one police force? What's behind it? I know one of the senior officers is trans and they've drunk the mermaids cool aid but even so. I agree further scrutiny of the data is needed before any conclusions can be drawn.

Why so many in one police force?

LGBT people in West Yorkshire are particularly well served by organisations that will take reports of crime online or by phone or in person.

There's even a group by the name of the Leeds LGBT Angels who patrol Leeds to provide a visible and reassuring presence. Every neighbourhood office and One-Stop centre has been designated a hate incident reporting centre. There are also national LGBT Hate Crime co-ordinators and helplines, if you don't want to report locally.

It's a good thing that the area of West Yorkshire shows its commitment to taking homophobic and transphobic hate crimes seriously.

There are risks too, with having so many fingers in the pie at national, local and neighbourhood level.

You will notice that the article includes comments from an LGBT organisation in Manchester. It's not clear (to me) whether the organisation is allowed to pass anonymised details to the GMP for recording purposes only, with the request that the complainant isn't contacted or interviewed.

If it is the case, (and I don't know about the processes in either GMP or West Yorkshire) then there is room for a whole lot of flaws in the data - especially when you consider that anyone can report a hate crime - a victim, a bystander, someone who has heard about the incident third-hand and so on.

To answer the question in short -

the rise in West Yorkshire is a combination of factors including:

• an environment that actively seeks out crimes,
• a network of developed services,
• lots of cash, projects, training and funding for hate crime specialists outside the police service,
• and confidence in being taken seriously.