Reporting Transgender hate crime
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Why report to the police?
The Metropolitan Police will investigate incidents or crime motivated by transphobia, but can only do so if they are reported! The question you may ask is how do I know whether an incident is transphobic or not? Well the following is the official definition agreed by the Association of Chief Police Officers for use by all police forces;
Any incident which is perceived to be homophobic [or transphobic] by the victim or any other person. In effect any incident intended to have an impact on those perceived as lesbians, gay men, bisexuals or transgendered people.
What this means is that an incident or crime is transphobic if you the victim or anyone else, for whatever reason, believe it to be so. Any report made to the police is ‘flagged’ as a transphobic incident or crime which allows ongoing research and analysis to identify persistent offenders or crime trends. The police therefore encourage reporting even if it is anonymous, so they can better understand the type of crimes and incidents faced by the community.
How can I report?
If you find yourself in a situation which requires an immediate police response, then dial 999.
If you text the word ‘Police’ to telephone number 60050, you will receive a text by return giving you the details and contact telephone number of the three nearest police stations to your location. There is a charge for this service – please refer to the website for more details.
Reporting to other agencies
If you want to report a transphobic incident and you don’t require an immediate response, then there are several reporting options that do not require you meeting face to face with the police (although you can still report direct to the police at any police station).
For details ofeh various agencies you can report to, see our Hate Crime Reporting page.
What do the police do next?
Whatever method you use to report a transphobic incident or crime, the information from your report will be responded to. Every London Borough has a police Community Safety Unit [CSU] who are responsible for investigating any incidents of hate crime within their Borough. All reports that require investigation whether received online, via GALOP, Crimestoppers or Victim Support will be referred to the relevant CSU and they will contact you in due course. Obviously if you report anonymously then you won’t receive any contact from the police – but rest assured your information will be valuable and put to good use!
Every report, anonymous or otherwise, is recorded for intelligence purposes and will be used for research and analysis purposes by the Strategic Intelligence Unit within the MPS Racial and Violent Crime Task Force. Analysis allows the police to identify transphobic offenders, crime trends, and community tensions and initiate enforcement or prevention strategies in partnership with local communities. Police research and analysis is more effective the more information they receive, which is why reporting transphobic incidents is so important.