Some reporting centres for hate crimes don’t exist say activists

Just West Yorkshire, which works to promote racial justice, civil liberties and human rights in the region, has written to Sir Norman Bettison, the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, warning many of its 200 reporting centres which have been established over the past few years to combat the crime are not fit for purpose.

The group says several of the reporting centres listed by the force have out of date contact details, while in one instance, a support agency listed as Kirklees Ethnic Minority Alliance does not even exist any more.

It also claims a leaflet on display at Lawcroft House Police station in Bradford earlier this month, provided another website and address for a reporting centre in the city which closed down three years ago.

Ratna Lachman, director of Just West Yorkshire, who wrote the letter to Sir Norman, said: “I am deeply concerned to find that West Yorkshire Police continue to distribute leaflets within their police stations of third party reporting centres which no longer exist.

“We will continue pursuing the matter with West Yorkshire Police and its partners as access to justice by victims of hate crime is a fundamental human right.”

The rapidly changing demographic of Yorkshire’s largest cities have led to forces across the region working to increase the number of hate crimes being reported – with fears a significant number do not come to the attention of the authorities.

Last month, it emerged a strategy to combat hate crimes in York is being overhauled to prevent offences escalating amid a dramatic increase in ethnic minorities.

The first document was launched by York Council in January 2008, but the city has witnessed a massive population boom in the intervening four years.

The rising number of ethnic minorities has been attributed in part to the £750m expansion of York University, although the city has also attracted many new residents.

The ethnic minority population has more than doubled in a decade, and a study in 2010 revealed there were 78 different first languages being spoken in the city.

Data from North Yorkshire Police have shown that there were 121 reported hate crimes in York during the last financial year, with 99 of 
the offences being racially motivated.

The figure is significantly lower than the 164 hate crimes which were reported in 2008/09 when the strategy was first launched.

West Yorkshire Police says it is working hard to increase the number of racially or religiously-motivated crimes being reported. In 2009 the number rose 12 times faster than in other parts of the country.

But Kash Ahmed, of Just West Yorkshire, said: “From the people that we speak to who are victims of race hate crimes, many don’t bother reporting to the police any more.

“We feel West Yorkshire Police are failing victims of race hate crime.

“People do not bother reporting it the police because they don’t think anybody is going to get arrested over it.”

John Parkinson, deputy chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, said in a statement yesterday: “We already have third party reporting sites in West Yorkshire and are very serious about following through on hate crime reporting.

“We have received the letter from Just West Yorkshire at precisely the same time as they have gone to the Press.

“We do intend to respond positively, outlining what we are doing and considering whether we need to review those processes any further.”

In 2011-2012, the charity 
Stop Hate UK which has Doreen Lawrence, the mother of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager who was murdered in a racial attack in South East London, as its patron, received 448 reports of hate crime relating to the victim’s race or ethnicity.