Racist crimes in north-east rocket by 50% over a year

Figures for racist crimes in the north-east show a “disappointing and deeply-disturbing” increase of more than 50% in the space of a year.

Grampian Police figures reveal the number of racially-motivated crimes increased across the region.

The force has seen a rise in each of its three divisions – Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

Figures for Aberdeen were the highest with 636 racist incidents recorded in the 12 months to March 2009. There were 416 the previous year.

In Aberdeenshire, the figure increased from 85 to 93, while in Moray they went up from 40 to 46.

According to Grampian Police’s annual report, which is different from the force’s divisional figures, the total number of racially-motivated crimes more than doubled from 2007/08 to 2008/09, rising from 407 to 854.

The annual report also indicates only about 63% of racist crimes resulted in someone being apprehended, warned or reported in 2008/09, down from over 67% the previous year.

North-east MSP and shadow justice minister Richard Baker said local agencies had to work together to tackle the rise in racial crime.

He said: “These figures are both disappointing and deeply disturbing. Aberdeen is a cosmopolitan city which welcomes people from across the world, so this is definitely a cause for concern.

“Police, councils and other local groups need to investigate why there has been this increase and redouble their efforts to tackle it.

“I do not think the north-east is inherently racist, but we must fiercely defend our reputation as a welcoming part of Scotland and make sure these figures go down in the future.”

Sergeant Colin Taylor, of Grampian Police, put the rise down to a change in the way race crimes are calculated.

The officer, based at Elgin, said: “In order to show a more complete picture at national level, a decision was taken by the force to come into line with other forces in the way racially-motivated crimes are recorded.

“People fighting or shouting at each other who add in a racist comment about someone's nationality often do so without realising the offence it causes.

“They throw it into the mix to hurt somebody and most are mortified when they realise the next day what they have said. We rarely get cases where people go out with the full intention of committing a race crime.”

Other forces in Scotland yesterday reported a decrease in the number of racist incidents between 2007/08 and 2008/09.

In Tayside, the number fell from 380 to 368, while Northern Constabulary reported a fall from 142 to 122.

A report issued by Northern Constabulary for the three years to March 31 2008 revealed the majority of racist incidents dealt with by the force were targeted at English people.

Between April 2005 and March 2008, people from south of the border were the victims of 108 racially-motivated incidents in the Highlands. The next highest number were Polish people, 31 of whom were victims of racist crimes.

Northern Constabulary Chief Superintendent Bruce Duncan said the force was “encouraged” that the number of incidents reported in the Highlands had gone down, but added that the force takes racist crime “extremely seriously, and one incident is one too many”.