Race hate crime jumps 25% in Bristol in last year

The Bristol Post reports on hate crime figures in the city noting a dramatic increase in race hate crime in the last year.

The paper reports on the fall in race hate crime between 2010 and 2013 but a sharp increase in the last year, 2013 – 2014 almost to the level recorded in 2010.

Avon and Somerset police recorded 1,130 crimes in Bristol, including parts of North Somerset and South Gloucestershire in 2010. This dropped over the next two consecutive years to 1,045 in 2011; 885 in 2012 and 878 in 2013. But in the last year, race hate crime rose by over a quarter, 25.6%, to 1,103 crimes.

The paper notes that this could increase further with 553 crimes already recorded in the first six months of this year; January to June 2015.

According to figures released to the paper under Freedom of Information, “The areas with high numbers of recorded race hate crimes are mostly in Bristol city centre, but it also includes St Paul’s, with 124 cases, Southville, with 148 cases and Filwood, with 201 cases.

“In Bristol, the neighbourhood with the highest recorded race-hate crime was in the Trinity policing ward – which includes parts of Lawrence Hill and Easton – with 269 recorded in the last four and a half years.”

Alex Raikes, from the charity Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI), said they had received the highest number of reports of hate crimes in 2014.

She added: “We know it has been on the rise in the last year. I should imagine part of it is down to better recording and better reporting of the crime. There has been quite a lot of work to raise awareness for that.

“Our case notes are telling us people are facing more hostility, and there are a few reasons for that.”

Raikes has previously spoken about levels of anti-Muslim prejudice among young white women rising amid reports of a 15% increase in religious hate crime between 2012 and 2014.

Last year, results from the British Social Attitudes survey revealed that 1 in 3 Britons professes to hold prejudicial views about race. The BSA survey has also illustrated the persistence of anti-Muslim prejudice among Britons.

Public awareness campaigns about reporting of hate crime and better recording of hate crime incidents by police forces informed many of the activities undertaken by force areas during National Hate Crime Awareness Week last year. With the reported increase in racial and religious hate crime, it is hoped this year’s campaigns, which take place over a week in October, will address these issues. A number of police forces have already launched campaigns on tackling hate crime such as West Mercia and West Yorkshire.