Avon and Somerset Police is set to become the third force in the country to officially recognise gender-based hate crime, with the change aiming to increase victim’s confidence to report incidents.
The launch comes at the start of National Hate Crime Awareness Week (14 – 21st October) which will focus on challenging disability, race, sexual orientation, religious, transgender and gender hate crimes.
Analysis of current crime reports indicates gender will account for 41% of hate crime in Avon and Somerset, despite the under-reporting of hate crime by women, particularly amongst transgender and Muslim communities.
Avon and Somerset Police lead for Hate Crime, Superintendent Andy Bennet said: “Recognising gender as an aggravating factor in hate crime is a huge step towards ensuring the streets and homes we live in are free from prejudice.”
“We know women are less likely to report hate crime committed by strangers in public, which could be because discrimination is normalised for many women.
“The new category will help us improve our response to hate crime as we understand more about the discrimination people experience everyday.
“Our message is hate crime won’t be tolerated, we take all reports seriously and we encourage anyone who needs our help to tell us or one of our local support partners”.
Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: “Being targeted because of your age, sexuality, race, religion or gender identity is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Avon and Somerset.
I am fully aware of local people’s desires to adopt gender as a Hate Crime, so I am delighted the Constabulary will now be monitoring gender as a motivation on crime locally and encouraging victims to report these crimes.
“We also have some fantastic charities helping to support victims and I want people know if they are suffering, there is help available.”
SARI Strategic Director, Alex Raikes MBE said: “SARI is working tirelessly, 24/7 to tackle hate crime and is seeing an increasing number of victims coming forward to courageously tell us what is happening to them.
“Whilst race hate remains the highest reporting category and rose significantly last year, we have also seen particular increases in reporting of disabilist, faith based and transphobic cases reported to us have more than doubled. Yet under-reporting is a huge issue.
“We are not seeing our Lesbian Gay and Bisexual communities coming forward and disabled people are suffering in silence all too often.
“We therefore welcome the recognition by Avon and Somerset of hate crime faced by women – gender hate. Women should not tolerate any form of abuse because of their gender. We hope this will further increase the wider communities’ awareness that hate crime must not be tolerated at any time.”
China Fish, campaigner against sexism in Bristol Zero Tolerance said: “Gender based violence is a prolific occurrence. With news of the recent Stanford study showing that throughout the world, women walk disproportionately less than men in order to protect their safety, we have to be taking note.
“Street harassment is a serious societal issue that has significant impacts on people’s lives. Having a gender hate crime category will help give victims the confidence that the problem is being taken seriously and lead to a stronger feeling of safety in the community.
“It certainly won’t solve the problem overnight but it is a step in the right direction for much needed change. As we have seen from Nottingham’s creation of misogyny as a hate crime, having this category in place has done just that. I hope to see it rolled out nationwide- it’s about time. ”
An Avon and Somerset Police Officer and racial hate crime victim said: “Don’t let Hate Crime go unreported, is never acceptable and it definitely shouldn’t be tolerated or considered ‘part of the job’ whatever industry you are in.”
Despite a 46% increase in hate crime reports across the region since 2015, it’s anticipated two in five hate crimes still aren’t reported to the police (Crime Survey of England & Wales).