Lincolnshire force sees rise in recorded hate crime '“ but not '˜in the aftermath of Brexit'

Lincolnshire has seen a rise in hate crime but police say there has been '˜no sharp increase in racially or religiously motivated crime in the aftermath of Brexit', instead saying the biggest rise was against disability and LGBT communities.
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Lincolnshire Police saw 78 incidents of hate crime recorded between July-September 2016, which compared with April-June the same year is a rise of 59 per cent.

It is the highest quarterly figure since comparable records began in April 2012.

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The figures place the force at eighth nationally out of all forces across England and Wales.

Hate crime nationally has risen by 27 per cent, with a total of 14,295 reports made across 44 forces - 33 of which reported a record rise.

Chief Inspector Dan Whyment, the Lincolnshire Police force lead for hate crime said there had been an increase in reported crime since different agencies began working together in 2015 and said the biggest number of reports had come from the disabled and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

He said: “Lincolnshire saw a general rise in overall hate crime last year. However there was no sharp increase in racially or religiously motivated crime in the aftermath of ‘Brexit’.

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“The increase in reporting comes against the backdrop of a multi-agency strategy and delivery plan which has since 2015 (pre dating Brexit) set out to tackle issues of under reporting amongst all hate crime victims.

In fact the biggest increases in reporting have been seen from disability and LGBT strands within the community.”

He said Lincolnshire Police were continuing to build on existing community projects and had produced a ‘community engagrment plan as part of the partnership.

He said: “The continual efforts of all involved mean we have an existing healthy approach to Hate crime in Lincolnshire. Brexit and the knock on effects are of course a consideration, but I feel it is important to get the message across that these efforts are not a knee-jerk reaction. Rather a determined approach to be supportive of victims and communities and demonstrate Hate crime is not tolerated in Lincolnshire.”

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Police forces in England and Wales can class five types of racially or religiously aggravated offences as hate crimes: assault with injury; assault without injury; harassment; public fear, alarm or

distress; and other criminal damage. Forces can also decide to identify other types of offences as hate crimes, however, meaning the overall total could be higher.

Police continue to encourage anyone to report hate crime to the 101 number (or 999 in emergencies) or visit www.stophateuk.org.

Here are the number of hate crime offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales in July-September 2016.

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They are ranked according to the size of the change compared with April-June 2016 (in brackets). An asterisk denotes that it was the highest quarterly figure since comparable records began in April 2012.

l Dorset 104* (up 100 per cent)

l Nottinghamshire 189* (up 75 per cent)

l North Yorkshire 64* (up 68 per cent)

l West Mercia 247* (up 64 per cent)

l Devon and Cornwall 220* (up 63 per cent)

l Leicestershire 213* (up 60 per cent)

l Kent 277* (up 60 per cent)

l Lincolnshire 78* (up 59 per cent)

l Humberside 140* (up 57 per cent)

l Dyfed-Powys 35* (up 52 per cent)

l Northumbria 394* (up 48 per cent)

l West Yorkshire 1,013* (up 46 per cent)

l Essex 376* (up 41 per cent)

l Wiltshire 134* (up 38 per cent)

l Suffolk 123* (up 37 per cent)

l British Transport Police 620* (up 34 per cent)

l Hampshire 463* (up 33 per cent)

l Sussex 385* (up 32 per cent)

l Hertfordshire 266* (up 30 per cent)

l Cleveland 159* (up 29 per cent)

l West Midlands 923* (up 27 per cent)

l Norfolk 130* (up 25 per cent)

l Gwent 77 (up 22 per cent)

l North Wales 56 (up 22 per cent)

l Lancashire 128 (up 21 per cent)

l Metropolitan Police 3,356* (up 20 per cent)

l Thames Valley 286* (up 20 per cent)

l Avon and Somerset 449* (up 19 per cent)

l Merseyside 477* (up 19 per cent)

l Greater Manchester 1,033* (up 19 per cent)

l Cheshire 195* (up 18 per cent)

l Durham 66 (up 16 per cent)

l Cumbria 50 (up 14 per cent)

l South Wales 276* (up 10 per cent)

l Cambridgeshire 179* (up 9 per cent)

l Derbyshire 117 (up 8 per cent)

l Staffordshire 237* (up 6 per cent)

l Warwickshire 106* (up 6 per cent)

l Bedfordshire 133* (up 6 per cent)

l Northamptonshire 79 (up 4 per cent)

l South Yorkshire 225 (down 1 per cent)

l Gloucestershire 55 (down 4 per cent)

l Surrey 137 (down 7 per cent)

l City of London 25 (down 7 per cent)

l Total: 14,295* (up 27 per cent)