Guildford Tops List for Recorded Hate Crimes in Surrey

Published on: 12 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 16 Oct, 2019

Hate Crime Awareness Week logo

By Martin Giles

More hate crimes were reported in Guildford than any other Surrey Police Division in the year ending August 2019.

The statistic has emerged as part of police publicity surrounding the National Hate Crime Awareness Week starts today, October 12. In partnership with a number of other agencies, including Stop Hate UK, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum (SMEF) and Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, Surrey Police is working to tackle hate crime. It is one of their key priorities as a force.

Hate crimes, according to the Home Office, are “any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic” such as their race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or any other perceived “difference”, such as belonging to a subculture, are on the increase and Guildford Police Division recorded more than any other police division in the county.

Detective Superintendent Sailesh Limbachia

Detective Superintendent Sailesh Limbachia, Surrey Police Lead for Hate crimes answered some questions from The Dragon on the subject:

What types of hate crimes occur in Surrey? Is there prevalence of a particular type and are particular areas of Surrey more affected than others?

The most prevalent type of hate crime in Surrey is race hate crime, with it making up over 60% of all reports of hate-related crime.

Due to the size of the population, we receive more reports from the public in the Guildford, Spelthorne, Woking and Reigate and Banstead areas of Surrey.

How many hate crimes were reported in the last reporting year in Surrey?

Between September 2018 and August 2019, Surrey Police recorded 1,881 hate crimes (2.9% increase on the previous year). This correlates to rises nationally.

How many hate crimes were reported in Guildford Division?

We received 263 hate crime reports from September 2018 and August 2019.

How do the stats for Guildford Division compare with others?

Guildford accounted for 14%; Woking 13.1%, Spelthorne 13.5% and Reigate and Banstead 12.3% of all hate crime in Surrey.

What were the results of the reported cases.

Surrey Police’s positive outcome rate for Hate Crime is around 17%. This is similar to last year. However, it is important to note that it is not always about prosecution as some victims do not want us to pursue through the criminal justice route, but instead consider more appropriate outcomes ie community resolutions, cautions or general advice.

What should we do if we witness a hate crime?

We urge anyone who is the victim of hate crime, or anyone who witnesses a hate crime to report it to us by calling 101, or online (https://www.surrey.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/).

They can also speak to our partners at Stop Hate UK by calling 0800 138 1625, the Stop Hate UK and Surrey Police app is available to download from the Google and Apple app stores.

You can also visit any Citizens Advice Bureau or Fire Station (Epsom, Woking, Guildford, Redhill, and Reigate). Visit Surrey County Council Community Safety website for more information: https://www.healthysurrey.org.uk/your-health/community-safety/hate-crime

What can be done to prevent them? 

Report it and if you know anyone who has been a victim then support them to report it or just speak to Stop Hate UK using the above advice.

According to the House of Commons library, there is some correlation between national events and the level of hate crime. The EU referendum and terrorist attacks have both produced spikes.

Graph showing the correlation between hate crime figures and events. (Click on image to enlarge).

Surrey as a county is in the mid-range for reported hate crimes. It only features in the top ten, nationally, for one category, religion.

But the House of Commons library also reports a discrepancy between two sources of information on the subject, the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) and Police Recorded Crimes data.

CSEW figures suggest there was a 40% fall in the average annual number of hate crime incidents between surveys conducted in 2007/08 and 2008/09 (307,000 incidents) and in 2015/16 to 2017/18 (184,000).

But police recorded figures indicated that since 2012/13 to 2017/18 there had been a 123% increase in the total number of reported hate crime offences. This increase in Police recorded hate crimes is believed to be partially attributable to an improvement in the recording of these crimes as well as a greater awareness in identifying hate crime.

The latest figures are not included in the House of Commons Library report.

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