FOI 776/25
REQUEST
- Does South Wales police exclusively hold self-defined ethnicity data, out of interest? How long have you adhered to this norm?
- Does South Wales police hold data about other hate crime indicators besides ethnicity, like Police Scotland? They were able to offer data on 'ACCENT (Language spoken), APPEARANCE (Skin colour, type of clothing etc), ASYLUM SEEKER' for example
RESPONSE
Question 1
Yes, South Wales Police holds self-defined ethnicity data.
The capability to record self-defined ethnicity has been in since the introduction of Niche in 2006/07.
Question 2
South Wales Police uses the following national categories for recording hate incidents and crimes:
Disability
Racial
Religion
Sexual Orientation
Transgender
South Wales Police recognises that hate incidents and crimes, where people are targeted because of the nature of their diversity, affect not only the primary victim but also their families and the wider community. Crimes motivated by “hate” emphasise feelings of difference rather than focusing on what is shared in common, breeding suspicion, mistrust, alienation and fear and are often perpetrated against victims who are particularly vulnerable due to their individual circumstances.
The responsibility to investigate and bring to justice perpetrators of hate crimes is a priority for South Wales Police and we are committed to taking a caring and proactive approach when responding to the needs of victims and investigating hate crimes. We believe this caring and responsive policing style is essential in helping raise the confidence levels of often vulnerable individuals and building overall public satisfaction and trust of the police within minority communities.
South Wales Police recognises the need for the care of victims to be delivered in the most professional manner and that the level of support provided must be appropriate to the needs of each individual victim. All necessary measures are taken to provide immediate practical help and ongoing reassurance to victims as South Wales Police strives to be the best at understanding and responding to our communities’ needs.
The Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner have set a priority for increasing the confidence of victims to report incidents of hate crime and for action taken by the police and their partners to reduce repetition of hate crime.