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Online, Site, Dating, Apps, Crime Reports, Calendar Month, Home Office, Classification, Offence, Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Grindr, Grinder, Plenty of Fish, okCupid, eHarmony, Match.com, Men, LGBT, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender.
PUB 1180
Dating Apps Mentioned in Crime Reports 2017 to 2022
Mentions of the Dating App Grindr in Crime Reports 2019 to 2022
01 January 2019 to 31 December 2022
Mentions of the dating app Grindr in crime reports from January 2019 to December 2022.
Please note that this information is correct as at 08 March 2023 and may be subject to change.
As with all publications of information by Essex Police, please note caveats may apply regarding the accuracy of data.
Number of offences that include the word "Grindr"
Grand Total |
6 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
20 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
|
Offences |
Victims Age |
|||||||||||||||
Full Offence Title |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
14 |
24 |
27 |
30 |
35 |
38 |
39 |
41 |
56 |
Grand Total |
|
Arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence |
3 |
3 |
||||||||||||||
Attempted - Meeting a male child following sexual grooming etc (Offender is 18 or over and victim is under 16) |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||||
Breach SHPO / interim SHPO / SOPO / interim SOPO / Foreign travel order or fail to comply with a requirement under Sec 103D (4) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|||||||||||
Causing or inciting a male child under 16 to engage in sexual activity No Penetration - Offender 18 or over |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|||||||||||
Engage in sexual communication with a child |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|||||||||||||
Harassment |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
Harassment - Putting people in fear of violence |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
Sending letters etc with intent to cause distress or anxiety |
3 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
Mentions of Dating Apps in Crime Reports 2021 and 2022
01 January 2021 to 31 August 2022
Mentions of the following dating apps in crime reports in January to December 2021 and January to August 2022: Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, okCupid, eHarmony and Match.com
Please note that this information is correct as at 20 December 2022 and may be subject to change.
As with all publications of information by Essex Police, please note caveats may apply regarding the accuracy of data.
Dates searched: 01/01/2021 - 31/08/2022
Query filters: initial modus operandi matches: TINDER, HINGE, BUMBLE, GRINDR, PLENTY OF FISH, OKCUPID, EHARMONY or MATCH.COM
Note: results for the keyword ‘Hinge’ in the modus operandi are in the context of a dating app. Results in other contexts have been excluded.
01 January to 31 August 2022 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Full Offence Title |
Tinder |
Hinge |
Bumble |
Grindr |
Plenty of Fish |
okCupid |
eHarmony |
Match.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harassment - Breach of a restraining order |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blackmail |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rape of a female aged 16 or over |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sending letters etc with intent to cause distress or anxiety |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harassment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Attempted - Meeting a male child following sexual grooming etc (Offender is 18 or over and victim is under 16) |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
Engage in sexual communication with a child |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Breach SHPO / interim SHPO / SOPO / interim SOPO / Foreign travel order or fail to comply with a requirement under Sec 103D (4) |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Harassment - Putting people in fear of violence |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stalking - Pursue course of conduct in breach of Sec 1 (1) which amounts to stalking |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
01 January to 31 December 2021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Full Offence Title |
Tinder |
Hinge |
Bumble |
Grindr |
Plenty of Fish |
okCupid |
eHarmony |
Match.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harassment - Breach of a restraining order |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blackmail |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rape of a female aged 16 or over |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sending letters etc with intent to cause distress or anxiety |
1 |
|
|
2 |
5 |
|
|
|
Harassment |
|
1 |
|
|
3 |
|
|
|
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Attempted - Meeting a male child following sexual grooming etc (Offender is 18 or over and victim is under 16) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Engage in sexual communication with a child |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Breach SHPO / interim SHPO / SOPO / interim SOPO / Foreign travel order or fail to comply with a requirement under Sec 103D (4) |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Harassment - Putting people in fear of violence |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Stalking - Pursue course of conduct in breach of Sec 1 (1) which amounts to stalking |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
16372
Crime Statistics Related to Online Dating 2018-2021
2018 to 2021
Please can you provide the following information for the calendar years 2018, 2020 and 2021 currently;
How many crimes were reported in relation to online dating, specifically when the following websites were mentioned: Hinge, Bumble, Thursday and Tinder.
What types of crimes were reported mentioning each site.
What types of crimes were recorded mentioning each site for each month of each year requested.
How many prosecutions took place from crimes related to dating sites.
How many women were victims of these crime reported.
How many men were victims of each crime reported.
How many women were perpetrators of each crime prosecuted.
How many men were perpetrators of each crime prosecuted.
Full Refusal with Section 12 Exemption
21 July 2022
22 August 2022
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police holds some of the information relating to your request
Second Duty – See below
Fact - It is not possible to extract and verify all the data in your request
Exemption - Section 12(1)
Refusal - Section 17(5) of FOIA
Reasoning –
In respect of Question 1, although Essex Police can run a data query, we are unable to provide accurate and reliable data results as the two online dating keywords requested of "HINGE" and "THURSDAY" are regularly used in different contexts.
In respect of Question 3, to run the data query on each month, it has been found could provide conflicting and duplicated data, as many of the offences appear to run over a period of time, crossing over months.
In respect of Question 4, Essex Police are unable to report on prosecutions from our crime data, this is held by the CPS.
Essex Police are unable to provide data on the number of prosecutions or any further details on the prosecution results for crimes referencing Dating Apps. This request would entail manually extracting the requested data, manually searching each record, cross referring on the investigation file as the process of referring to the CPS will be contained within each file and then the Police National Computer (PNC) to establish the outcome and conviction data. Similarly, to determine correct or appropriate data to identify the dating app of “Hinge” or “Thursday” would entail the same manual review process – which would take approximately 30 minutes per record to establish the facts – this would take considerable resource to achieve and, therefore, is regarded as excessive and would exceed the time and cost limits under the Act.
Duty to assist – When refusing a request on cost (Section 12(1)/12(2), outside of the act and in effort to assist we can provide the following –
Whilst the Applicant has requested specific years as a timeframe, Essex Police has also run a data query and included results on the year 2019.
Caveat: The data is correct as at 21/07/2022.
Question 1:
The following table provides the total count of offences where the dating apps "TINDER" or "BUMBLE" were included within the Initial Modus Operandi:
NB: "HINGE" and "THURSDAY" could not be searched on due to these words being used regularly in different contexts
Year |
Offences |
2018 |
12 |
2019 |
6 |
2020 |
13 |
2021 |
5 |
Question 2:
The following table provides the full offence title by year and dating app:
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
||
Full Offence Title |
TINDER |
TINDER |
BUMBLE |
TINDER |
TINDER |
Assault on a female by penetration |
1 |
||||
Assault with Injury - Assault occasioning actual bodily harm |
1 |
||||
Assault without Injury - Common assault and battery |
2 |
||||
Blackmail |
1 |
2 |
|||
Criminal damage to a vehicle endangering life |
1 |
||||
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
1 |
||||
Engage in controlling/coercive behaviour in an intimate / family relationship. |
1 |
||||
Harassment |
1 |
1 |
3 |
||
Rape of a female aged 16 or over |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Sending letters etc with intent to cause distress or anxiety |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
Sexual assault on a female |
1 |
||||
Stalking - Pursue course of conduct in breach of Sec 1 (1) which amounts to stalking |
1 |
Questions 5 & 6:
The following table provides gender of the victims:
Year |
Female |
Male |
2018 |
10 |
2 |
2019 |
5 |
1 |
2020 |
8 |
5 |
2021 |
3 |
2 |
Grand Total |
26 |
10 |
Questions 7 & 8:
The following table provides the gender of the suspects:
NB: the volume of suspects will differ from the volume of offences and victims as there can be more than one suspect per crime.
Year |
Female |
Male |
2018 |
1 |
9 |
2019 |
1 |
2 |
2020 |
2 |
5 |
2021 |
3 |
|
Grand Total |
4 |
19 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
The Force Information Management Board chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable has oversight of the Force wide programme of work to improve the quality of Force data. This work has identified data quality leads in all key areas of the business including the Crime and Public Protection Command. Liaison between the Force Data Quality Team and the Crime and Public Protection Command lead for data quality will identify and resolve issues through a variety of mechanisms to ensure regular and appropriate supervisory oversight.
15447
Dating Apps Mentioned in Crime Reports
2017-2021
I would like to request information that your force holds, in relation to any crimes committed specifically against men of any age, race or sexuality, relating to the LGBT+ dating app Grindr (commonly mis-spelt Grinder) or crimes relating to any other forms of dating apps or online dating sites in the last four years.
Full Disclosure
23 April 2021
29 April 2021
N/A
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, Essex Police can confirm in respect of Section 1(1)(b) the following data:
Caveat: The data is correct as at 23 April 2021. The results include crimes against males relating to the dating app Grindr (or spelling Grinder) and other dating apps Tinder and Plenty of Fish between January 2017 and March 2021. Other Dating Apps; eHarmony, Match.com, Bumble, Hinge and okCupid were also checked and no results were found matching the above criteria.
Dating App Name |
|||||
Year |
Month |
Grinder |
Plenty of Fish |
Tinder |
Grand Total |
|
January |
|
|
|
|
|
February |
|
|
|
|
|
March |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
April |
1 |
|
|
|
|
May |
4 |
1 |
|
|
2017 |
June |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
July |
|
|
|
|
|
August |
|
1 |
|
|
|
September |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
October |
6 |
2 |
|
|
|
November |
1 |
|
|
|
|
December |
|
1 |
|
|
2017 Total |
|
17 |
7 |
1 |
25 |
Dating App Name |
|||||
Year |
Month |
Grinder |
Plenty of Fish |
Tinder |
Grand Total |
|
January |
|
1 |
|
|
|
February |
1 |
|
|
|
|
March |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
April |
|
|
|
|
|
May |
|
|
|
|
2018 |
June |
|
|
|
|
|
July |
|
|
|
|
|
August |
1 |
|
|
|
|
September |
1 |
|
|
|
|
October |
|
|
|
|
|
November |
2 |
|
|
|
|
December |
|
|
1 |
|
2018 Total |
|
6 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
Dating App Name |
|||||
Year |
Month |
Grinder |
Plenty of Fish |
Tinder |
Grand Total |
|
January |
3 |
|
1 |
|
|
February |
|
1 |
|
|
|
March |
|
|
|
|
|
April |
1 |
|
|
|
|
May |
2 |
|
|
|
2019 |
June |
1 |
|
|
|
|
July |
1 |
|
|
|
|
August |
|
|
|
|
|
September |
3 |
|
|
|
|
October |
|
|
|
|
|
November |
2 |
|
|
|
|
December |
1 |
|
|
|
2019 Total |
|
14 |
1 |
1 |
16 |
Dating App Name |
|||||
Year |
Month |
Grinder |
Plenty of Fish |
Tinder |
Grand Total |
|
January |
1 |
|
|
|
|
February |
|
|
1 |
|
|
March |
2 |
|
1 |
|
|
April |
2 |
|
1 |
|
|
May |
|
|
|
|
2020 |
June |
|
|
|
|
|
July |
|
|
|
|
|
August |
|
|
|
|
|
September |
|
|
1 |
|
|
October |
2 |
|
|
|
|
November |
|
|
|
|
|
December |
|
|
1 |
|
2020 Total |
|
7 |
|
5 |
12 |
Dating App Name |
|||||
Year |
Month |
Grinder |
Plenty of Fish |
Tinder |
Grand Total |
|
January |
|
4 |
|
|
2021 |
February |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
March |
2 |
|
1 |
|
2021 Total |
|
3 |
6 |
1 |
10 |
Grand Total |
|
47 |
15 |
10 |
72 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
15216
Dating Apps Mentioned in Crime Reports
2018-2021
1. Please disclose how many times the dating app’s Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, okCupid, eHarmony, and match.com were mentioned in crime reports, for each calendar month in the years:
a. 2018
b. 2019
c. 2020
d. 2021 (Jan)
2. Please can you breakdown the crimes identified in the answer to Q1a-d, per calendar month in the years identified, by the Home Office classification offence group that the reported crime belongs to.
If it isn’t possible to give monthly data within the s12 cost limit then please can you give me the figure per calendar year.
Full Disclosure
01 February 2021
09 February 2021
N/A
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police and in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request. Under Section 1(1)(b) the below/attached has been provided in relation to your FOI.
Caveat:
The data includes the number of times the dating app’s Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, okCupid, eHarmony, and match.com were mentioned in crime reports from 01 January 2018 – 25 January 2021 and a breakdown of the Home Office Classification the offence falls under. Please note there was no recorded data for okCupid, eHarmony or Hinge.
1. Please disclose how many times the dating app’s Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, okCupid, eHarmony, and match.com were mentioned in crime reports, for each calendar month in the years:
Number of Records |
|
Dating App Name |
|
||||
Year |
Month |
Bumble |
Grinder |
Match.Com |
Plenty of Fish |
Tinder |
Grand Total |
2018 |
January |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
2018 |
February |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
4 |
2018 |
March |
|
|
|
|
3 |
3 |
2018 |
April |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
2018 |
May |
|
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
2018 |
June |
|
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
2018 |
July |
|
|
|
|
4 |
4 |
2018 |
September |
|
2 |
|
|
|
2 |
2018 |
December |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2018 Total |
|
|
3 |
|
9 |
9 |
21 |
2019 |
January |
|
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
2019 |
February |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
2019 |
March |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
2019 |
April |
|
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
2019 |
June |
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
2019 |
July |
|
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
3 |
2019 |
August |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
2019 |
September |
|
2 |
|
|
|
2 |
2019 |
October |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
2019 |
November |
|
1 |
|
|
2 |
3 |
2019 |
December |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
2019 Total |
|
|
6 |
2 |
8 |
6 |
22 |
2020 |
February |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2020 |
March |
|
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
2020 |
April |
|
2 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
2020 |
June |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
2020 |
August |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
2020 |
September |
1 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
2020 |
October |
|
2 |
|
2 |
1 |
5 |
2020 |
December |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
2020 Total |
|
1 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
18 |
2021 |
January |
|
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
2021 Total |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
Grand Total |
|
1 |
14 |
3 |
22 |
23 |
63 |
2. Please can you breakdown the crimes identified in the answer to Q1a-d, per calendar month in the years identified, by the Home Office Classification offence group that the reported crime belongs to.
Tinder |
|||
Home Office Classification |
Year |
Month |
Number of Crimes |
RAPE |
2018 |
January |
1 |
OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCES |
2018 |
March |
2 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
March |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
July |
3 |
CRIMINAL DAMAGE |
2018 |
July |
1 |
ALL OTHER THEFT OFFENCES |
2018 |
December |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
January |
2 |
PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCES |
2019 |
March |
1 |
RAPE |
2019 |
July |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
November |
2 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
February |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
March |
2 |
VIOLENCE WITH INJURY |
2020 |
April |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
June |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
September |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
October |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
December |
1 |
Total |
|
|
23 |
Bumble |
|||
Home Office Classification |
Year |
Month |
Number of Crimes |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
September |
1 |
Total |
|
|
1 |
Grindr |
|||
Home Office Classification |
Year |
Month |
Number of Crimes |
OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCES |
2018 |
February |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
September |
2 |
OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCES |
2019 |
June |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
July |
1 |
OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCES |
2019 |
September |
2 |
OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCES |
2019 |
November |
1 |
PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCES |
2019 |
December |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
April |
1 |
OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCES |
2020 |
April |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
September |
1 |
PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCES |
2020 |
October |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
October |
1 |
Total |
|
|
14 |
|
|||
Plenty of Fish |
|||
Home Office Classification |
Year |
Month |
Number of Crimes |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
January |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
February |
3 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
April |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
May |
1 |
ALL OTHER THEFT OFFENCES |
2018 |
May |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2018 |
June |
2 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
February |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
March |
1 |
ALL OTHER THEFT OFFENCES |
2019 |
April |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
April |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
July |
1 |
ALL OTHER THEFT OFFENCES |
2019 |
August |
1 |
PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCES |
2019 |
October |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
December |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
August |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
October |
1 |
RAPE |
2020 |
October |
1 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2021 |
January |
2 |
Total |
|
|
22 |
Match.com |
|||
Home Office Classification |
Year |
Month |
Number of Crimes |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2019 |
June |
2 |
VIOLENCE WITHOUT INJURY |
2020 |
June |
1 |
Total |
|
|
3 |
Hinge |
|||
okCupid |
|||
eHarmony |
|||
No recorded data |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.