There were 52,528 such offences recorded by forces in England and Wales in 2014/15 – an increase of 18% compared to the previous year, according to Home Office data.
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The rise was attributed to by an official government report at the time to the fallout in the wake of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby, who was killed in a daylight attack by two Islamic fundamentalists in Woolwich, south-east London, in May 2013.
Over the last 12 months, from October 2014 to September this year, police recorded 263 hate crimes in Gloucestershire.
“GMP is very proactive in encouraging the reporting of hate crime and we’ve held several Hate Crime Awareness Weeks and have used social media and advertising to encourage more people to tell us about their suffering”. However, Mark stressed that “we still, however, have work to do”, explaining that “although a few of the percentage increases in recorded hate crimes are significant, the actual numbers are still low, particularly for disability, transphobic and religious hate crimes”.
This can be against their gender identity, ethnicity, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation.
British Home Secretary Theresa May said there was no place for hate crimes in the country.
A hate crime reporting centre has been set up at the fire service’s Shrewsbury headquarters in St Michael’s Street and posters are being displayed on fire appliances. The Hate Crime Network is working to identify and reduce barriers to reporting and the app will provide victims and witnesses with an accessible mechanism to report incidents when and where they happen.
Speaking today at the inaugural meeting of a new Community Engagement Forum to discuss countering extremism, Cameron said he wanted British Muslims to know the Government would “back them to stand against those who spread hate and to counter the narrative which says Muslims do not feel British”.
The project will support people to recognise when they have experienced a hate crime, encourage them to report it to the police and signpost them to any help they need, the Equality Network said.
“As well as improvements in recording, this is also thought to reflect a greater willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes”.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Cameron described rising hate crime as “unacceptable”, adding: “W e must do more to fight it which is why we will make sure police record anti-Muslim attacks”. “After that the abuse got worse”, she said, adding: “People seem to think that because I’m dressed this way and I’m Muslim, I’m associating myself with these people…”
A few of the respondees who took part in the survey said victims of racist abuse 20 years ago still kept their feelings on the subject quiet and “kept themselves to themselves” to avoid any further crime.
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“Hate crime can be reported to us by calling 101 or 01273 470101, or 999 in an emergency”.
