Hampshire sees massive increase in hate crime
It's gone up by 64% in the last year
Hampshire has seen a big increase in the number of reported hate crimes over the past year, with it rising by 64% between March 2021 to March 2022.
Disability hate crime saw the biggest spike as it went up by 103% meaning there were over 500 more instances reported this year in contrast to 2020-21.
But racial hate crimes were still the most common types of hate crime reported as 3,454 cases were reported this year.
This comes as this week marks Hate Crime Awareness Week.
Hampshire Constabulary think this rise could be due to more people coming forward, as there was an increase from 3,528 to 5,796 hate crime cases reported this year.
Donna Jones, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire said: "In reality we haven’t seen a huge spike in hate crimes over the last 12 months in Hampshire.
"But Police officers have been recording the incidents that have been happening in a slightly different way.
"Whereas previously they were recorded as some form of harassment, they’re now been correctly recorded as a hate crime if that’s what they are.
"Police officers and Police staff are given very specific training in this area, so I don’t think people living in these communities need to be concerned that there’s been a massive spike but more that the Police are dealing with it properly and responding accordingly."