Fewer than one in 10 sexual orientation hate crimes in Bedfordshire lead to charge

Fewer than one in 10 sexual orientation hate crimes led to a charge or summons in Bedfordshire last year, figures suggest.

LGBT charity Stonewall said police must do more to investigate potential crimes and improve the low number of charges relative to offences across the country.

Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request by RADAR show there were 235 sexual orientation hate crimes recorded by Bedfordshire Police last year.

Of those, just 18 (8%) had led to a charge or summons at the time of the request.

At least 37 (16%) were dropped because a suspect could not be identified, and the victim did not support further action, and a further 25 (11%) were closed due to evidential difficulties despite a suspect being identified and the victim supporting action.

Data from the 32 forces across England and Wales that provided information on investigation outcomes shows only 1,648 (9%) of the 17,824 offences recorded in 2021 led to a charge or summons.

Forces were asked to provide the number of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation, and the investigation outcomes, for each of the last five years.

While some offences may have still been under investigation at the time of the request, the landscape of low charge rates is reflected across the country.

Robbie de Santos, director of communications and external affairs at Stonewall, said society must do more to "combat anti-LGBTQ+ violence and call out abuse, harassment and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment wherever we see it".

Mr de Santos added: "But we also need a greater commitment from the police to take decisive action to follow up and investigate these offences."

Meanwhile, separate Home Office figures released recently show the number of offences in Bedfordshire has soared during the coronavirus pandemic – sexual orientation-motivated hate crimes rose by 18% from 160 in 2020-21 to 188 in 2021-22.

LGBT charities said the rise in hate crimes in recent years is "deeply worrying", but warned many go unreported and the figures do not accurately represent the whole picture.

Leni Morris, CEO of anti-abuse charity Galop, said demand for the charity's support services has continued to rise in the last six months.

"Sadly, wherever our community is more visible, this tends to result in higher levels of abuse and violence," Ms Morris added.

Sergeant Carl Perri, from Bedfordshire Police, said: “We know that hate crime has been under reported for generations and it is reassuring to see that more people are coming forward to report it.

“Over recent years police have worked hard to improve our response to hate crime, including better recording of offences and more training for officers.

“We will also do our best to prove the ‘hate’ element of any offence with the evidence we have available, which is crucial if we are to secure a successful prosecution.

“Targeting someone and assaulting them because of who they are is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“Policing takes all reports of hate crime seriously because we know that they have a devasting impact on individual victims and targeted communities.

“Everyone has a right to live their life without the fear of targeted abuse for who they are, either physically or verbally. We will always seek to protect that right.”