Homophobic hate crime in Tower Hamlets is 57% higher than it was three years ago, according to the latest figures from the Metropolitan Police’s Hate Crime Dashboard. In the year to December 2019, there were 148 homophobic offences recorded in Tower Hamlets. In the wake of these figures, local London Assembly Member, Unmesh Desai AM, is calling upon the community to “come together and work harder than ever before to stamp out homophobic and transphobic abuse” and encourage those who have experienced hate crime to report it to the police.
These figures are in line with the national picture which shows homophobic and transphobic hate crime is on the rise across England and Wales, with a total of 14,491 recorded crimes committed against people due to their sexual orientation in 2018/2019.
Despite this widespread increase in offences, research conducted by LGBT rights charity, Stonewall, suggests that four in five homophobic and transphobic hate crime incidents go unreported.
Earlier this month, in partnership with Google.org, the Mayor of London announced £800,000 of new investment to go towards tackling hate crime and extremism in the capital. This comes on top of £6 million of existing City Hall funding already being allocated towards this end.
In 2017, the Metropolitan Police established a dedicated unit to clamp down on online abuse as part of the Mayor’s “strict zero tolerance approach” to hate crime.
In September, the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee published a report which made recommendations to the Mayor about the further measures that City Hall could take to address all forms of hate crime in the capital.
Local London Assembly Member, Unmesh Desai AM, said:
“It’s sickening that an increasing number of people in our community are being targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“City Hall and the Met Police are working hard to tackle hate crime in all its forms, but we know that more often than not, incidents go unreported.
“I don’t want to see anybody suffering in silence. As Londoners, we must all come together and work harder than ever before to stamp out homophobic and transphobic abuse. It’s not always easy to call out prejudice when we see it, but there are many things we can do to help, and that includes reporting hate crimes to the police.”
Notes to editors
- The latest figures revealing the number of homophobic hate crime offences recorded in London, can be accessed through the Metropolitan Police’s Hate Crime Dashboard;
- In the year to December 2019, there were 148 homophobic hate crime offences recorded in Tower Hamlets. In the year to January 2016, there were 94 homophobic hate crime offences recorded in Tower Hamlets;
- The latest figures published by the Home Office show that in 2018/2019, sexual orientation hate crimes in England and Wales increased by 25 per cent upon the previous year to 14,491 recorded incidents;
- Stonewall’s report, LGBT in Britain: Hate Crime and Discrimination, can be read here;
- This week, in partnership with Google.org, the Mayor of London announced £800,000 of new investment to go towards tackling hate crime and extremism in the capital. This comes on top of £6 million of existing City Hall funding already being allocated towards this end;
- In 2017, the Metropolitan Police established a dedicated unit to clamp down on online hate crime incidents as part of the Mayor’s “strict zero tolerance approach to hate crime”;
- The London Assembly’s Hate Crime report can be read here;
- Unmesh Desai AM is the London Assembly Member for City & East