Racist attacks up 25% in a year

REPORTS of racial abuse have risen by more than 25 per cent in a year, according to new police figures. Some 11,000 incidents were reported in 1993/94, although the real level of racially motivated attacks is believed to have been about 140,000.

The figures also show huge differences in the levels of abuse between police districts. In Greater Manchester the number of reported incidents has increased by 1,545 per cent to 658 since 1989, while in West Yorkshire it has dropped by 20 per cent to 244.

Labour yesterday called for new laws against racially motivated violence and racial harassment to stop the growing number of incidents. It rejected Home Office claims that the increase shows that the police are taking incidents more seriously and that members of ethnic minorities now have greater confidence in the criminal justice system and are prepared to come forward.

The total number of reported racist incidents rose from about 5,300 in 1989 to 11,000 in 1993/94, according to the new figures. In 1993 it was about 8,700.

The reported incidents include racial attacks, threats, verbal abuse, intimidation, harassment, graffiti and distribution of offensive literature. There are believed to have been more than a dozen racist murders in the past three years, like the killing of 18-year-old Stephen Laurence. He was stabbed to death in April 1993 by white youths at a bus stop in south- east London.

In a more typical example of abuse, a black single mother with three children was forced to move from her home in Dagenham, east London, after years of racial harassment. Several middle-aged white neighbours constantly shouted abuse at her, threatened her children and said they would burn down her house. "They made me feel terrified and angry," she said. "I couldn't even go to the shops without being frightened."

By far the greatest number of racist incidents happen in London, which accounted for almost half - 5,124 - of the 1993/94 total. This has risen from 2,900 in 1990. There have also been large increases in the five years up to 1993/94 in Nottinghamshire (up 878 per cent to 264), South Wales (up 325 per cent to 400), Derbyshire (up 1,005 per cent to 221), Hampshire (up 324 per cent to 212) and West Mercia (up 1,566 per cent to 100). Cleveland recorded a drop of nine per cent to 50 reported cases.

Police forces now follow set rules for what should be recorded as a racist incident, after guidelines were published by the Association of Chief Police Officers. Any incident that someone believes is motivated by racial hatred is now recorded separately.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: "The number of reported racial incidents now exceeds 10,000, which is a fraction of the actual number of assaults. This is a national disgrace. The range of reported increases [also] suggests that recording methods may be wholly inconsistent."

Jack Straw, the Shadow Home Secretary, added: "We have long been calling for the introduction of a new offence of racially motivated violence. The increase in attacks is a matter of deep concern, and we must ensure that everything be done to tackle the problem."

He added that Labour was also proposing to have a new "community safety order", which would force racist offenders to stay away from their victims or face a prison sentence.

Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, has rejected these ideas. He believes that a separate offence of racial violence would make it harder to obtain convictions. However, the Criminal Justice Act has made it an offence to "cause intentional harassment", which carries a maximum penalty of six months. The circulation of racially inflammatory material is also now an arrestable offence, and judges are allowed to take into account the motivation for an attack when sentencing.

A Home Office spokesman said that the rise in reported incidents was due to greater confidence in the police, rather than growing racism. However, Marc Wadsworth, of the Anti Racist Alliance, said his organisation had discovered growing evidence of an increase in racial abuse.

Piara Powar, a project worker at the Newham Monitoring Project, which covers east London - one of the country's worst areas for racial abuse - believes that further legislation is not the answer. "What we want is for the police to use the existing laws," he said. "Their current record is appalling."