Hate crimes soar as more victims come froward

The region's police forces recorded almost 4,000 incidents of hate crime during 2009, figures published yesterday by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) reveal.

Racism accounted for the vast majority of reports and Government statistics, also released yesterday, show that three of Yorkshire's constabularies dealt with soaring numbers of such cases.

South Yorkshire Police saw racist incidents rise by almost a fifth, while officers in North Yorkshire and Humberside recorded increases of 17 and seven per cent respectively.

The region's largest force, West Yorkshire Police, saw incidents fall by seven per cent to 2,687 but dealt with 15 reports of anti-Semitism last year – the fourth-largest caseload in the country.

ACPO said hate crime reporting increased by 12 per cent overall across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2009, compared with the previous year.

The rise was welcomed by police chiefs, who said it gave them a better understanding of the scale of the problem and indicated that more victims felt confident enough to come forward.

Insp Mark Iveson, of North Yorkshire Police, said the growing number of reports was a "very encouraging sign" while Humberside Police's head of youth and community cohesion, Adil Khan, pointed to evidence that more people were now happy to raise cases.

South Yorkshire assistant chief constable Max Sahota said: "Any crime against a person because of their ethnicity will not be tolerated, and whatever the reason for this increase in reported incidents, we will fully investigate each and every crime and endeavour to bring the perpetrators to justice."

For more information on reporting hate crime, visit the charity's website www.stophateuk.org.