West Midlands racist crimes up by nearly a third, Home Office reveals

Jun 30 2009 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post

The number of racist crimes in the West Midlands has shot up by almost a third, new figures have revealed.

Police are recording nine racially-aggravated offences every day in the region, according to the Home Office.

A force spokesman said the increase reflected their success in encouraging victims of racist offences to come forward and report the crime.

But a local MP said there was a genuine increase in tensions. Khalid Mahmood (Lab Perry Barr) said: “People feel under threat more than they used to.”

West Midlands Police recorded 3,249 racially or religiously-aggravated offences last year, according to figures published by Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker. This is up 31 per cent from 2,479 in 2004-05.

In Warwickshire, incidents more than doubled, from 187 in 2004 to over 400 last year.

Incidents reported to Staffordshire Police rose to 760. However, incidents recorded by West Mercia Police, which covers Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, actually fell, from 674 to 503.

Chief Insp Adrian Atherley, head of West Midlands Police’s diversity and community cohesion unit, said: “The rise in reported racially and religiously-motivated incidents is encouraging because it means more victims of these heinous offences are coming forward.

Mr Mahmood said the increase was linked to the growing influence of the British National Party, which won two seats in the European Elections earlier this month, but BNP West Midlands spokesman Simon Darby denied the claim, saying: “Mr Mahmood should be more responsible in his comments instead of making emotive statements.Where BNP councillors have been elected, you actually see a fall in the number of racist incidents.”