36 per cent hate crime rise

The 6,755 race-related hate crimes reported included large increases in harassment-related offences as well as the sending of grossly offensive messages.

Offences against people identifying as ‘Black – Other’ rose from 137 to 281, an increase of 105 per cent, while offences against people with Chinese backgrounds rose from 42 to 65 (54 per cent increase).

The victim groups who suffered most offences were Asian – Pakistani (826 incidents in 2019 up to 1,047 in 2020) and White – British (813 to 1,132).

Racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress was the most common form of race hate crime at 2,710 incidents in 2020 – up from 2,112 the year before.

Racially or religiously aggravated common assault rose from 509 incidents in 2019 to 579 in 2020.

June and July of 2020 saw the most incidents reported at 743 and 723.

The figures were released by West Midlands Police in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The figures did not cover other forms of hate crime, such as offences related to sexual orientation or disability.

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Waheed Saleem, said: “It’s worrying to see hate crime rising.

“Attacking someone physically, verbally or via social media because of their disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity is totally unacceptable and won’t be tolerated.

“That is why the Police and Crime Commissioner and I have quadrupled the amount of money we make available to local organisations who support hate crime victims to £200,000.

“Our fight against this nasty crime will go on as long as the crime is being committed.”

Janina Powell, Victim Support’s West Midland’s area manager, said: “At Victim Support, we also saw significant spikes in hate crime nationally in June and early July 2020 when events like the Black Lives Matter protests were taking place.

“Although its concerning that more people are experiencing hate crime, the rise may also suggest that victims have more confidence to report incidents to the police.

“We know that hate crime is hugely under-reported because there is a misconception that some cases are ‘too trivial’ to report or that it won’t be taken seriously.

“While in one sense it is extremely concerning that racial hate crimes in particular are on the rise, it can also be a positive sign that more victims are coming forward.”