Organisation

Ministry of the Interior.

Start and end date

Start date:

8 January 2015, updated in July 2020.

End date:

Ongoing (as of May 2021).

Scope

National.

Target group(s)

State security forces (National Police and Guardia Civil).

Funding

Not applicable.

Objectives

The protocol provides guidance for police officers on how to identify and treat hate crime incidents. Its objectives are to:

• improve hate crime recording in Spain;
• improve police training so that officers can identify and record hate crimes;
• identify all elements that should be considered in police actions regarding these incidents.

Outputs

Action Protocol for the security forces for hate crimes and behaviours breaching legal regulations on discrimination (Protocolo de Actuación para las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad para los Delitos de Odio y Conductas que Vulneran las Normas Legales sobre Discriminación)

Description

In 2020, Instruction No. 4/2020, by the Secretary of State for Security (Ministry of the Interior), updated the protocol. The updated protocol contains the following elements.

• An index of behaviours in relation to hate crime and breaches of the legal regulations governing discrimination.
• Indicators to identify hate incidents that must be included in police reports. This provides judges and prosecutors with the elements that they need to describe incidents, bring charges and prosecute perpetrators. The indicators cover elements such as whether or not the victim belongs to a minority group, racist or xenophobic expressions or comments that the aggressor uttered, flags and signs that the aggressor exhibited, and where and when the incident took place (and if it coincided with a historical event).
• Guidelines about police action on hate and discrimination incidents and the steps that need to be taken.
• Guidance on protecting victims and victims` treatment.
• Managing guidelines on hate crime on the internet and on social networks.
• Guidance on taking action in cases of violence in sports.
• Criteria for recording incidents according to the different grounds of discrimination.
• Guidance on managing relations with non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Critical success factors

Collaboration between institutions and political entities led to a chain of actions that has significantly improved the reporting and recording of hate crime in Spain in the last few years. These included training police officers, improving the SEC statistical criminality system, launching the Action Protocol for police officers and establishing a network of social mediators in the police force.

Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice

The Secretary of State for Security (Secretaría de Estado de Seguridad) in the Ministry of the Interior (Ministerio del Interior) designed the Action Protocol in consultation with:

• the National Police Force (Cuerpo Nacional de Policía)
• the Guardia Civil
• the Spanish Observatory for Racism and Xenophobia (Observatorio Español del Racismo y la Xenofobia) (General Secretariat for Immigration and Emigration (Secretaria General de Inmigración y Emigración), Ministry of Employment and Social Security (Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social)).
• the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality (Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad)
• the Foundation ‘Pluralism and Coexistence’ (Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia), Ministry of Justice (Ministerio de Justicia)
• NGOs that deal with victim support and defending human rights.

Monitoring and evaluation

• The Secretary of State for Security in the Ministry of the Interior evaluated the practice.
• The National Police Force, Guardia Civil and NGOs that deal with victim support and defending human rights were consulted.
• Statistical data on hate crime incidents reported by the police were used in the evaluation, as well as state security forces’ reports on the implementation of the Action Protocol.
• The analysis of statistical data from the SEC criminality system reported by police officers shows an increase in the number of reported actions that were carried out in response to racist and discriminatory incidents.

Publicly available contact details

Hate Crimes National Office (La Oficina Nacional de Lucha Contra los Delitos de Odio – Lectura Fácil (mir.es))