Hate Crime - 308/20

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

We would like to obtain the below information between the period 01/01/2013 to 31/12/2018.

A. Could you please provide information about police officer hate crime training which includes the following:

1. Date of hate crime training?
2. Type of hate crime training (e.g. online, workshop, seminar, practical etc.)?
3. Was the training optional or mandatory?
4. Number of police officers that participated in the training?
5. Was the training internal (e.g. run by Police Force) or external (e.g. College of Policing)?

 

B. Could you please provide information about hate crime community outreach events or communications which includes the following:

1. Date of hate crime outreach event or communication?
2. Type of outreach event or communication (e.g. community event, school talk, public meeting, poster, leaflet, social media campaign, website article etc.)?
3. Who delivered the outreach event or communication (e.g. police community support officer, police officer, neighbourhood policing team, communications department etc.)?

 

 

In Response:

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within Northumbria Police.  I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police, however cannot be disclosed for the following reasons.

The information requested is not held centrally and is not held in a format that allows its extraction within the permitted 18 hour threshold.

Point B 6-8 would require all Neighbourhood/ Community Police officers being asked to establish what information they hold at this point and to provide. After searches were initiated it has been established that this cannot be achieved within the 18 hour threshold for even one Area Command ( Northumbria Police have 3 Area Commands) and as such Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act would apply. This section does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimated that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit of 18 hours, equating to £450.00

You should consider this to be a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Act for your request.

Although excess cost removes Northumbria Police's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information below, relative to points 1- 5 of your request, retrieved or available before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.

Hate Crime - Briefing/Awareness training:

• Type of hate crime training - Hate Crime - Briefing/Awareness (to give students an understanding of the serious nature of hate crimes).
• Disability Hate Crime Training was delivered to 2,315 front-line staff between 2 January and 31 December 2013.
• Standard Hate Crime Training was delivered to 2,629 front-line staff, between 10 November 2013 and 31 December 2014.
• Police officers attended dedicated training sessions which were delivered throughout the three Force Area Commands; Northern, Southern, Central.
• The training was mandatory.
• Training was delivered internally, delivered by Police Officer trainers.

 

Hate Crime training Workshops: (regarding the definition and response to Hate crime was delivered to officers and staff force-wide in late 2016):

• Type of Hate Crime training workshop - Hate Crime Workshop.
• Hate Crime workshops were delivered Force wide between 2 September 2016 to 11 February 2017.
• The training was mandatory.
• The number of police officers that participated in the training was 946 Police Officers (961 including staff grades).
• Training was delivered internally, delivered by Police Officer trainers.

 

Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) Hate Crime input:

• Type of Hate Crime training - Classroom/seminar based.
• Part of Year 1 Module 2 learning programme.  See College of Policing Programme Specification and National Curriculum.  Delivered prior to the Student Officer’s supported deployment phase.
• The training was mandatory as part of PCDA programme.
• The full cohorts; 4 x cohorts of student officers have attended this training.
• The training was delivered under the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship programme, at Northumbria University, by Northumbria Police People Development officers. 

 

Introduction to Equality and Diversity Input (student officers) - Hate Crime input:

All new student officers receive a one-day input on Equality & Diversity, which includes Hate Crime, as part of the 12-week Initial Police Learning Development Programme (IPLDP).  It explains the term diversity and explores reasons why it impacts upon the individual, the organisation and the community. It provides students with an overview of prejudice and discrimination and how they manifest in the workplace.

There are specific learning outcomes around recognising what is meant by the term hate crime and considering how to deal with and record hate crime whilst respecting the need for confidentiality. Main themes include:

• Identify Hate crime and how to ethically record it.
• Understand the difference between hate crimes and hate incidents.
• Summarise police actions when dealing with hate crimes and hate incidents.
• Explain the impact of hate crimes and hate incidents on victims.
• Understand disability hate crime and the definition of disability.
• Understand homophobic  and race hate crime.