Hate crime cut calms initial Brexit fears

Hate crime in Pinner decreased last year despite national fears that the Brexit vote might spark a wave of offences. The figures for Harrow Borough were released at the end of last year by the Metropolitan Police and showed that the 2015 figure of 32 recorded hate crimes had reduced to 26. The figures follow a trend seen throughout London. The Met recorded a total of 1,721 hate crimes in 2015 but only 1,580 last year. Strangely, homophobic crimes in the borough quadrupled in 2016 from one to four. Another anomaly showed there had been two anti-Semitic crimes in 2016 whilst there were none the previous year. Regardless, Met Police said they were glad to see a decrease in the figures. Defining the offences, a spokesperson for the Met Police said: “A racist and religious hate crime offence is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person, or any offence where the offender demonstrates hostility based on the victim’s membership of a racial or religious group.” For more stories from your local community, read the January edition of Pinner&HatchEndNews which is distributed on January 20.