Stamford & Rutland bucks trend of increased hate crime across UK
77-thousand offences were recorded nationally in 2021.
Racially or religiously aggravated hate crimes across the country have increased by 15% - although Stamford and Rutland seems to buck the trend!
Leicestershire Police has seen such crimes increase by 1%, but in Lincolnshire they've actually dropped by 1%.
A total of 76,884 racially and religiously aggravated offences were recorded in 2021, up 15% from 66,742 in 2020.
The number of offences has been on an upwards trend since 2013, the first calendar year for which comparable data is available.
But this is the biggest percentage jump since 2017, which saw a 16% rise in offences fuelled by reaction to terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.
Independent charity Victim Support said the figures for 2021 were "seriously concerning" and fit a pattern for "spikes in hate crime linked to world events", while the Equality and Human Rights Commission warned that "more still needs to be done to improve the quality of support for victims", including "effective hate crime training" for police forces.
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said all forms of hate crime are "completely unacceptable - police will take, and do take, all reports seriously and we will do everything we can to investigate".
The analysis has been compiled by the PA news agency from data published by the Home Office.
It shows that of the 44 forces in England and Wales, 39 reported a rise in racially and religiously aggravated offences from 2020 to 2021, while 34 forces saw numbers last year reach a new high.
The offences - all of which are defined as hate crimes - include racially or religiously aggravated assault, harassment and criminal damage.
The Metropolitan Police recorded the highest number of these offences last year (15,394, up 2% from 15,156 in 2020) followed by West Midlands (8,019, up 57% from 5,117), Greater Manchester (6,431, up 36% from 4,724) and West Yorkshire (5,334, up 15% from 4,642).
West Midlands and Greater Manchester also saw two of the largest year-on-year percentage increases, along with Gloucestershire (up 45% from 384 to 556) and Cleveland (up 34% from 631 to 843).
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the force saw "several spikes" in reported hate crimes last year that were influenced by "high profile events", including a "sharp rise following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions."
"We take reports of hate crime seriously and record all instances, whether they pass the threshold to be classified as a crime or not," the spokesperson added.77-thousand offences were recorded nationally in 2021.