Increased Hate Crime Levels after Referendum

A majority of police forces across England and Wales saw record levels of hate crimes in the first full three months following the EU referendum, new statistics reveal.

The figures cover the period between July and September, during which time more than 14,000 hate crimes were recorded. Police say their own monitoring suggests incidents have levelled out after the summer's spike.

Dorset and Nottinghamshire saw the highest percentage increases in reports, of 100% and 75% respectively.

Conversely, South Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Surrey and City of London Police posted falls in hate crime during the same period.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, the National Police Chiefs' Council's lead for hate crime, said:

"We know that national and global events have the potential to trigger short-term rises in hate crime and we saw this following the EU referendum last year.

"Police forces took a robust approach to these crimes and reporting returned to previously seen levels.

"These numbers are still far too high. We have increased the central reporting and monitoring functions to enable us to recognise spikes earlier. This will be used to assess any threats that may arise and inform local police activity."

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The Johnson Partnership

Crime Solicitors