Racial hate crime reports soar in Humberside

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all received online racist abuse after missing penalties in the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy on Sunday night.

The comments have prompted a police investigation and widespread condemnation, including from England's manager Gareth Southgate, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince William.

Charity Victim Support said it was "appalled" by the abuse, and added that it followed a rise in reported race hate crime nationally during the pandemic.Humberside Police recorded 977 crimes during the period – an increase of more than double compared to 2015-16, when 403 incidents were reported - and a six percent rise from 2018-19, when 924 racial hate crimes were reported.

Humberside Police said that over the last few years, the priority has been to tackle hate crime with education being at the forefront, and the force has seen figures rise as a result.

Following on from the Euros final any hate crime reported to the force as a result of the football match on Sunday (July 11) will undergo a thorough investigation and appropriate action will be taken.

Community Safety Sergeant Nick Bunker said: “We have taken many proactive approaches and actions around education of hate crimes.

“We have carried out internal education to enable our staff and officers to identify hate crime at the earliest opportunity.

“As well as this, we have provided ongoing education to members of the public to realise what is happening to them is in fact a hate crime.

“Whilst we still have a way to go in getting the full picture of hate crime-related offences, we have put many measures in place to try and accurately record these types of crime and have enabled bespoke actions to help any victims that come forward.

“We take all reports of this nature very seriously as these crimes can have a devastating impact on an individual and local communities.

“If you are the victim of an offence or an incident which you believe to be as a result of your disability, race, gender, religion or sexuality, you can report this to the police on 101, or 999 in an emergency.

“You can also report hate crimes through third party reporting centres and anonymously on the True Vision website.

“Being you is not a crime. Targeting you is.”

Across England and Wales, police recorded 76,070 racial hate crimes in 2019-20 – the equivalent of more than 200 a day, and the highest number since comparable records began in 2011-12.

The figure, which did not include data from Greater Manchester Police, was a six percent rise from 72,041 in 2018-19, and up by two-thirds from 2015-16, when 45,440 were reported.

Home Office data reveals a record number of race hate crimes were recorded by police forces in England and Wales in 2019-20 – the latest available figures.

The rise was partly down to improvements in recording and an awareness of hate crime, the Home Office said.

It also said events like the EU referendum in 2016 and terrorist attacks in 2017 were likely to have had an impact.

But Victim Support said other factors, such as the murder of George Floyd by a policeman in America last year, had driven a further increase in reports.

The charity said it was "extremely saddened and appalled" by the abuse suffered by the three England football players following Sunday's match.

The incident has also seen a fresh wave of support for model Katie Price's online petition aimed at making it more difficult for online trolls to be anonymous.

The petition – which now has more than 660,000 signatures – wants to make it a legal requirement for anyone opening a new social media account to provide a verified form of ID.

As of around 11am on Wednesday (July 14), 52,872 people from across Yorkshire and The Humber had lent their names to the petition.

It was launched following abuse directed at Ms Price's son, Harvey.