Suffolk police encourage hate crime victims to speak out as number of reported incidents revealed

A police officer has said he wants to ensure victims of hate crime feel confident enough to speak out after a drop in recorded incidents.

Supt Andy Martin, hate crime lead for Suffolk Constabulary, said they were conscious that hate crime goes under reported and work with a number of partners to encourage people to come forward.

He said changes to its community policing model in December 2023 allowed them to have a stronger and more focussed resource to tackle hate crime.

Up to November 6 last year, 745 hate crimes were recorded compared to 842 in 2023 and 991 in 2022.

By category the highest crimes recorded were racial with 473 last year, 552 in 2023 and 650 in 2022 as well as sexual orientation with 124 last year, 117 in 2023 and 151 in 2022.

These were followed by disability (61, 83 and 95 for the respective years), transgender (32, 31 and 36), racial or religious (35, 29 and 27), religion (15, 28, and 23) and alternative sub-culture (two, two and eight).

The highest types of offences were racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress with 246 last year, 298 in 2023 and 362 in 2022.

Stalking and harassment followed with 151, 187 and 182 for the respective years; public fear, alarm or distress (121, 134 and 166) and violence without injury (112, 101 and 129).

Hate offences by district last year were 129 in East Suffolk (160 in 2023 and 200 in 2022), 364 in South Suffolk (424 in 2023 and 504 in 2022) and 252 in West Suffolk (258 in 2023 and 287 in 2022).

Supt Andy Martin, hate crime lead for the force, said they took every report of hate crime very seriously as they were mindful of the devastating and often life-changing impact on the victim.

“We are conscious that hate crime does go under reported and, to ensure victims feel confident in coming forward, we work with a number of partners to encourage reporting; we reach out to community groups/organisations in order to build trust and raise awareness and we regularly review investigations,” he said.

“We also provide inputs to school children to ensure the implications of hate crime are raised with them and its unacceptability in modern society.

“One of the changes we made to our community policing model, introduced in December 2023, enables us to have a stronger and more focussed resource to tackle hate crime and this allows us to respond more effectively to their concerns.

“Finding the perpetrators who commit the crime online brings its own challenges, but we still take it seriously, and our digital support officers can assist in these often complex investigations.”

Norfolk and Suffolk Victim Care provides a free and confidential support service to help victims and witnesses of all types of crime, including hate crime.

Support can be provided even if the incident has not been reported to the police.

For more information visit nsvictimcare.org or call 0300 303 3706.