Hate Crimes Rise in London's Soho area

[jbrowder24]

Homophobic attacks in London's Soho and the gay-friendly borough of Westminster increased last year, according to the Met Police.

New figures released by Scotland Yard revealed that anti-gay hate crime increased by 26 per cent, from 117 to 148 incidents, from April 2010 to April 2011.

Soho is famously regarded as the queer area of the capital.

The figure contradicts the capital's overall hate crime stats, which saw incidents fall by 0.1 per cent and total crime dropping 0.5 per cent across the 32 London boroughs.

http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory/5407...e-say.aspx

[TimmyThink]

Hummmm....yeah that definitely not good, but there nothing much can be done about it other than hoping the police do their jobs.

Unless I put on one my many Punisher shirts, go down to London an take care of things Frank Castle style.

[OrphanPip]

That seems like a lot, it exceeds the number of reported hate crimes against gays in all of Canada.

Although, I don't feel like there's enough information to know if it is caused by changes in reporter bias, maybe more people are just reporting the crimes and there hasn't been more crimes.

[fredv3b]

I have no faith whatsoever in the police's recorded crime figures as a measure of crimes that are actually being committed. I only look at the British Crime Survey. Unfortunately, it is not detailed enough to look at individual areas like Soho.

[marshlander]

Like Fred I do not trust the statistics to tell the whole story, but if a trend has been identified in these figures it should be addressed. I generally take what I read in Pink News with a pinch of salt also. "The Met Police was recently voted Best Police Force in the Pink Paper Readers' Awards 2011" leaves many more questions than it answers :confused:

[Cardiganwearer]

I don't think we can quibble with the actual numbers, but presenting them as a percentage increase suggests that some real statistical analysis has been done, which it hasn't. Perxcentage is a function available on the simplest calcualators which even jouranalists and policemen can use.

Westminster has a huge transient population which means that figures for anything are going to fluctuate wildly from year tp year and even season to season. We're given this year's figure and last year's; two data points do not a trend make. Given the data we have, hate crime is going to go up, down or stay the same. If there were no determining forces at work the probability of each would be about 33%, to report it like that is barely worth a headline. That said, down or unchanged would have been better news.

Reading the article, it might have been written by Phil Space.

[jbrowder24]

Yeah I was hoping to see more stats and thought some of our UK members might have more info. If hate crimes went down just slightly in general, but gay-specific hate crimes went up in certain areas, does that mean there was less hate crimes against other groups/minorities to get that sort of balance in overall numbers? But all I have from this is that Scotland Yard reportedly released some figures, which I haven't seen.

But yes, not everything will be reported, as is true with other crimes such as rape, but what is reported should still be an indicator of if there's a problem in an area that needs to be addressed or not. To clarify, obviously crime is always a problem that needs to be addressed, but perhaps an area with certain attacks could see more rounds being done by officers or something.

Also, I'm not familiar with Pink News, saw it linked through something else... I take it that it's not the most reliable?

[flyboy]

I guess ill have to carry around my bow and arrows more often then

[fredv3b]

But yes, not everything will be reported, as is true with other crimes such as rape, but what is reported should still be an indicator of if there's a problem in an area that needs to be addressed or not.

There are very frequent changes to official guidance with how the police are supposed to record alleged crimes. Also there have been recent campaigns in the media against homophobic violence. Therefore I have no confidence that the increase in recorded hate-crimes reflects an actual increase in them. I am not saying that I positively believe that there has not been an increase, I'm just keeping an open mind.

Also, I'm not familiar with Pink News, saw it linked through something else... I take it that it's not the most reliable?

Pink News is a news recycling website, that said it usually recycles from reputable sources. That said I have such a jaundiced view of the media that I don't regard any newspaper as reliable.

[zeon]

Hi,
Homophobia can be caused in any society... Alot of it i find is mild bicker moments within the gay scene however i dont understand communities which go to others when they dont like it... Thats like gay men going to a straight nightclub and attacking men in there for being hetrosexual....

I wouldnt beleive statistics they do tend to be completely wrong as they are never accurate... Have you added 10%