We’ve all heard that race hate crimes have increased since the “Brexit” vote in the referendum – and now the British Transport Police have confirmed the trend.
The Transport Police recorded 119 incidents which included allegations of racist abuse on trains and at stations in the two weeks after the referendum. This is over half as many again as were recorded in the two weeks before the referendum – and it’s an astonishing 78% increase on the same two week period in 2015.
Rose Simkins, Chief Executive of charity Stop Hate UK, pointed out that these worrying figures may only be the tip of an iceberg and called on the Police to redouble their efforts to record these crimes and help the victims.
Ms Simkins said, “While we are encouraged that people have found confidence to report incidents due to the national publicity on the issue, it is a sad fact that the numbers of all hate incidents are extremely under-reported. We consistently hear from victims that one of the reasons they do not report incidents is a lack of confidence in authorities to deal with the issue. We would encourage BTP to look closely at the type of incidents being reported and take the opportunity to assess how effective their hate crime strategies are.”
Superintendent Chris Horton, of BTP, however, showed determination to act against hate crime. He said: “Hate crime is totally unacceptable and has no place in society or on the rail network. We are aware that hate crime is under-reported and so in order to tackle it effectively, we need the public to stand up to those committing these sickening acts and report it to us. We will take every report seriously. We will always work tirelessly to ensure those who threaten or intimidate passengers are brought to justice.”
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