Gwent Police deal with 900 racist incidents (From South Wales Argus)

Gwent Police deal with 900 racist incidents

5:20pm Saturday 1st October 2011 in News

ALMOST 900 racist incidents have been dealt with by Gwent Police over the past three years, according to the Home Office.

Figures in a Home Office report show there were a total of 280 incidents in 2008/09, 273 in 2009/10 and 343 in 2010/11, an increase of 63 incidents (22.5 per cent) over the three year period.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said hate incidents and crimes will not be tolerated in Gwent and the force is committed to tackling these offences and providing support to victims.

She said: “Historically, we believe that hate incidents (where there may not necessarily be a criminal offence present) were under reported, often because victims did not realise that they could report these to the police, or because of a lack of confidence in the service they would receive.

“We have prioritised improving our services to make it easier for people to come forward, feel more confident that the incidents will be properly investigated and get the support they need.”

She added that the number of reported racist crimes had fallen from 410 in 2009/10 to 240 in 2010/11, which the force attributes to the zero tolerance message getting across to communities.

South Wales Police dealt with a total of 5,581 racists incidents over the past three years, Dyfed Powys dealt with 494 and 1,021 were reported to North Wales Police.

Anyone who has been a victim of any sort of hate crime should contact Gwent Police on 101 or contact the Community Cohesion Team via communitycohesion@gwent.pnn.police.uk