Derbyshire hate crime reports rose 20 per cent over the last year, figures show

The latest Home Office figures show 2,035 hate crimes were recorded by Derbyshire Constabulary in the year to March – up from 1,700 the year before.

Hate crimes are defined as those motivated by a prejudice or hostility towards a personal characteristic – such as race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.

Numbers across England and Wales have risen every year since records began in 2012, in part due to improvements in how police record hate crime.

The 109,843 race hate crimes recorded nationally in 2021 marked the first time a single category has topped 100,000 over a year.

And despite accounting for the smallest number of crimes across all categories, offences motivated by transgender identity saw the largest increase across the two nations.

There were 4,355 such offences in 2021-22 – of which 67 were recorded in Derbyshire – a 56 per cent increase on 2,799 the year before.

Derbyshire Constabulary also recorded 390 offences on the basis of sexual orientation, 74 religious hate crimes and 241 against people with disabilities.

A Derbyshire Police spokesman said: “Anyone can be a victim of a hate crime and across the country we know that it is often under-reported and work has been on ongoing to increase reporting.

“Increases are in many ways a positive sign – showing victims have greater confidence in coming forward and reporting and are able to access support, as well as perpetrators being brought to justice.

“Without those reports it is impossible for the force to understand the scale of issues and where patterns of offences may be occurring and we would urge anyone who has been a victim of a hate crime to have the confidence to know that we will take their report seriously.”

The Home Office said transgender issues have been “heavily discussed on social media” over the last year, which may have contributed to the rise.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive at the charity Victim Support, said: “No one should have to endure abuse and discrimination for simply being themselves.

"Hate crime is a very personal offence which can shatter victims’ confidence and self-worth, making them feel unsafe and threatened – so any rise is seriously worrying."

Crimes can be tagged with more than one category, so the overall number of offences may be lower than the sum of the reasons given.

Ms Fawcett cautioned that increased numbers may be the product of better police awareness and incident-logging, which would be an "encouraging trend".

"Our own data actually shows levels of hate crime have remained fairly stable, slightly falling over the past year," she added.

The total number of hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales rose 26 per cent in 2021-22, from 124,104 to 155,841.

According to analysis of figures submitted by 26 forces to the Home Office, 9 per cent of hate crime flagged offences had been dealt with by a charge or summons over this period, slightly below 10 per cent in the year ending March 2021.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Hate crime is a scourge on communities across the country. It does not reflect the values of modern Britain.

“While the rise in cases is likely to be largely driven by improvements in police recording, these can be serious crimes such as assault and we cannot be complacent.

"We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.”