Nottinghamshire Police recognise misogyny as hate crime

Nottinghamshire Police has officially recognised misogyny as a hate crime.

In an effort to make the county a safer place for women, the force has provided misogyny hate crime training to selected officers and staff for the past three months.

The force is the first in the country to adopt the separate misogyny hate crime category.

Misogyny hate crime is classed under the new policy as "Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman, and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman."

Examples of incidents include:

• unwanted or uninvited sexual advances

• physical or verbal assault

• unwanted or uninvited physical or verbal contact or engagement

• use of mobile phones to send unwanted or uninvited messages

• or take photographs without consent.

The new procedures have been introduced in partnership with Nottingham Women's Centre.

Work on the change began in June 2014 after a research project, which led on to a conference where victims gave examples of harassment faced by women.

Anyone affected by misogynistic hate crime is being asked to contact police without hesitation.