76% percent of hate crime in Cambridgeshire is related to race
There have been 1616 cases of hate crime in the area
A huge amount of hate crime in Cambridgeshire is race related.
From April 2023 to March this year there has been 1616 cases of hate crime in the area and 1243 of these have been related to race.
It's a societal problem
As well as this, hate crime relating to religion has more than doubled from the previous year.
In the year from 2023 to 2024 there were 92 crimes motivated by this. The year before, there were 60.
The total number of hate crimes has also increased compared to five years earlier when there were 636 less.
It cuts to the core of somebody
Superintendent James Sutherland, the strategic lead for hate crime at Cambridgeshire Constabulary, said:
"We've seen a rise in hate crime over the last year. There's a couple of things that are driving that."
"There's the ongoing conflict in the Middle East which has seen a rise in both antisemitism and islamophobia."
"Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of hate crime reports we have are related to race. Sometimes race and religion are connected."
It affects everywhere, and we are not immune
"What clearly comes across to me from looking at these crimes in detail is that it's a societal problem.
"It affects everywhere, and we are not immune."
"Hate crime effects people in a different way than other types of crimes. It cuts to the core of somebody. It cuts to the core of their identity, and often times the effects can be longer."
"People who commit hate crimes will usually only do it once, or it will only be reported to us once.
It will often be very specific to the circumstances going on there."
"So, in many ways, it's a much harder crime for us to tackle than traditional types of crime."