Big rise in race and religion bias crimes

The number of racially or religiously motivated crimes being reported to Greater Manchester Police has risen more than four times faster than in other parts of the country.
Government figures show 3,637 crimes were reported in 2007/08 across the county, compared with 693 in 1999/2000 — a rise of 425%.

Nationally there has been an 82% increase in the same period from 21,750 to 39,643.

GMP director of diversity command Clare Pavitt said research showed that e-crime is under-reported at a national level and over the past few years GMP has been working to encourage reporting.

She added: “The increase that these figures show is evidence of the success of this work and of a growing confidence among our communities in our ability to tackle hate crime.

"Working with our partners across the criminal justice system we are taking steps to improve our reporting and investigative processes to ensure that victims of hate crime receive the best quality service.

“We recognise that some people may not feel confident in speaking directly to the police, so we have set up a network of third party reporting centres.

“These are in places like community centres or public buildings where hate crimes can be reported without the need for someone to come to a police station or have a police officer visit their house.

“We will not tolerate hate crime in Greater Manchester and will act robustly to identify those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice.”

According to the Liberal Democrats who collated the figures, “better recording” of the crime could not be the sole reason for the huge increase.

Lib-Dems shadow home secretary Chris Huhne said: “The alarming rise in racially and religiously motivated crimes will be of huge concern to anyone who values this country’s proud record as a tolerant and diverse nation.

“It is simply unacceptable that anybody in modern Britain is the victim of crime because of the colour of their skin or what they believe in.

“Police forces are more sensitive to these issues today but there is no way that better recording can explain such colossal increases across the country.”

The only police force to record a fall in racially and religiously aggravated offences was the Metropolitan Police, which saw a fall of 47% between 1999-2000 and 2007-08.

Mr Huhne called for ministers to liaise with the Met police force to see how they have bucked the trend.