Hate Crime Figures Reveal Hundreds of Reports in Havering as Racist and Religious Offences Remain a Concern
Recorded hate crime in Havering rose from 430 cases in 2021 to 584 in 2023, before falling to 533 in 2024, according to figures published in Havering Council reports. The council’s community safety assessment identifies racist and religiously motivated offences as the largest category of reported hate crime, although the available figures do not establish how many incidents involved physical attacks or which area of the borough recorded the most offences.
Figures from Havering’s Community Safety Partnership show that 430 hate crimes were recorded in 2021, rising to 492 in 2022 and 584 in 2023.
The assessment provides the following breakdown for 2021 to 2023:
Year All recorded hate crimes Racist/religious hate crimes Homophobic Disability-related Transgender-related 2021 430 375 47 11 4 2022 492 424 52 18 10 2023 584 493 98 21 13
Source: Havering Community Safety Partnership, Strategic Assessment 2024. Figures reproduce the categories shown in the council assessment; categories may not account for every recorded hate crime.
The figures show that racist and religiously motivated offences made up the largest category in the assessment.
The number in this category rose from 375 in 2021 to 424 in 2022 and 493 in 2023. This represents an increase of 118 between 2021 and 2023, or approximately 31.5%.
Overall recorded hate crime increased by 154 over the same period, from 430 to 584, before a subsequent council report recorded 533 hate crimes in 2024.
A separate figure cited in council reporting recorded 461 cases flagged as racist or religiously motivated in 2024. This figure should be treated separately from the total of 533 hate crimes, as the published material does not establish that both figures were compiled using precisely the same definitions and data extracts.
Hate crime can cover a range of offences, including assault, threats, harassment and criminal damage where the relevant hostility is recorded. These figures should not be described as a count of physical racist attacks alone.
The available borough-wide statistics also do not establish which ward or neighbourhood experienced the highest number of racist incidents.
Other categories recorded in the council’s assessment included homophobic, disability-related and transgender-related hate crime. The figures show that reported hate crime affects different groups across the borough.
The figures raise questions about the scale of hate crime in Havering and the need for clear, comparable information on the offences being reported, the areas affected and the action taken by police..
Residents who experience a crime can report it to the police. In an emergency, where there is an immediate danger, call 999.
Source: Havering Community Safety Partnership’s Strategic Assessment 2024 and subsequent Havering Council reporting. Figures relate to recorded reports and should not be interpreted as a measure of every incident that occurred.
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