Hate Crime, England and Wales, 2015/16 | Page 24

Annex A - Hate crime and the EU Referendum Figure A2: Indexed trends in the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences and their non-aggravated equivalents1 recorded by the police, April 2014 to August 2016 Indexed trend, April 2014=100 250 200 150 100 Non-aggravated offences Aggravated offences 50 0 Source: Police Recorded Crime, Home Office 1. See Table 1 for list of offences covered. The Home Office Data Hub contains information on the exact day that an offence is recorded.22 Figure A3 shows racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police by day of recording in May to August 2016 for 31 forces23 that supplied data to the Home Office Data Hub – therefore covering the period of the EU Referendum. This analysis shows a clear increase following the referendum result. The number of racially or religiously aggravated offences then falls during August, with the number of offences at the end of August at a similar level seen prior to the referendum. 22 Figures may include offences that took place before the date of recording. It is possible they were reported as a result of the increased media attention on hate crime around the time of the EU referendum. 23 Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cleveland, Devon and Cornwall, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Gwent, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Metropolitan Police, Northumbria, North Wales, North Yorkshire, South Wales, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, Warwickshire , West Mercia, West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Wiltshire. 19