Hundreds of ‘hate crime’ offences recorded in Cambridgeshire according to new figures

The figures show that in Cambridgeshire in 2019, 772 ‘hate crime’ offences were recorded and this increased to 790 in 2020.

The data also shows that in 2020 police in Cambridgeshire were not able to trace a suspect in around one fifth of these offences.

Of the 790 offences in Cambridgeshire 180 (23%) were recorded as investigation complete – no suspect identified”.

Here is a breakdown of the number of racially and religiously aggravated offences recorded by police forces in 2020, together with the change from 2019.

The figures are from police-recorded crime data for England and Wales published by the Home Office and cover five types of offences, all of which have a specific racially or religiously motivated element defined by statute.

According to the Home Office, “these racially or religiously aggravated offences are by definition hate crimes”.

The five offences are:

– Racially or religiously aggravated assault with injury

– Racially or religiously aggravated assault without injury

– Racially or religiously aggravated harassment

– Racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage

– Racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress

The figures cover all forces in England and Wales except Greater Manchester Police, who were unable to provide data from July 2019 to March 2020.

Of the 43 forces that did provide data, 33 reported a rise in racially and religiously aggravated offences from 2019 to 2020, while 30 forces saw numbers last year reach a new high.

The list reads, from left to right: name of police force; the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded in 2019; the number recorded in 2020; the percentage year-on-year change.

Avon & Somerset: 1,741; 1,936; 11%

Bedfordshire: 748; 649; -13%

British Transport Police: 2,668; 1,732; -35%

Cambridgeshire: 772; 790; 2%

Cheshire: 982; 999; 2%

Cleveland: 624; 631; 1%

Cumbria: 314; 375; 19%

Derbyshire: 617; 648; 5%

Devon & Cornwall: 795; 791; -1%

Dorset: 325; 464; 43%

Durham: 404; 411; 2%

Dyfed-Powys: 239; 355; 49%

Essex: 1,577; 1,821; 15%

Gloucestershire: 339; 384; 13%

Gwent: 383; 422; 10%

Hampshire: 1,471; 1,652; 12%

Hertfordshire: 1,035; 898; -13%

Humberside: 754; 918; 22%

Kent: 1,642; 1,513; -8%

Lancashire: 1,099; 1,186; 8%

Leicestershire: 714; 1,297; 82%

Lincolnshire: 301; 316; 5%

London, City of: 138; 70; -49%

Merseyside: 1,671; 1,880; 13%

Metropolitan Police: 14,051; 15,101; 7%

Norfolk: 497; 594; 20%

North Wales: 401; 420; 5%

North Yorkshire: 323; 412; 28%

Northamptonshire: 611; 865; 42%

Northumbria: 1,331; 1,466; 10%

Nottinghamshire: 880; 897; 2%

South Wales: 1,075; 1,157; 8%

South Yorkshire: 1,329; 1,568; 18%

Staffordshire: 855; 811; -5%

Suffolk: 441; 493; 12%

Surrey: 1,041; 1,179; 13%

Sussex: 1,304; 1,373; 5%

Thames Valley: 1,874; 2,069; 10%

Warwickshire: 395; 390; -1%

West Mercia: 836; 757; -9%

West Midlands: 4,145; 5,115; 23%

West Yorkshire: 4,681; 4,627; -1%

Wiltshire: 402; 419; 4%

Total: 57,825; 61,851; 7%

Here is an additional list showing the number of racially and religiously aggravated offences recorded by police forces in 2020 that were assigned the outcome “investigation complete – no suspect identified”.

The list reads, from left to right: name of police force; the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by police in 2020; the number of these recorded offences assigned the outcome “investigation complete – no suspect identified”; this number expressed as a percentage.

Avon & Somerset: 1,936; 299; 15%

Bedfordshire: 649; 94; 14%

British Transport Police: 1,732; 721; 42%

Cambridgeshire: 790; 180; 23%

Cheshire: 999; 183; 18%

Cleveland: 631; 152; 24%

Cumbria: 375; 90; 24%

Derbyshire: 648; 95; 15%

Devon & Cornwall: 791; 184; 23%

Dorset: 464; 71; 15%

Durham: 411; 104; 25%

Dyfed-Powys: 355; 57; 16%

Essex: 1,821; 330; 18%

Gloucestershire: 384; 61; 16%

Gwent: 422; 67; 16%

Hampshire: 1,652; 407; 25%

Hertfordshire: 898; 148; 16%

Humberside: 918; 216; 24%

Kent: 1,513; 271; 18%

Lancashire: 1,186; 348; 29%

Leicestershire: 1,297; 254; 20%

Lincolnshire: 316; 50; 16%

London, City of: 70; 24; 34%

Merseyside: 1,880; 472; 25%

Metropolitan Police: 15,101; 4,752; 31%

Norfolk: 594; 86; 14%

North Wales: 420; 68; 16%

North Yorkshire: 412; 59; 14%

Northamptonshire: 865; 196; 23%

Northumbria: 1,466; 558; 38%

Nottinghamshire: 897; 220; 25%

South Wales: 1,157; 240; 21%

South Yorkshire: 1,568; 478; 30%

Staffordshire: 811; 172; 21%

Suffolk: 493; 86; 17%

Surrey: 1,179; 241; 20%

Sussex: 1,373; 426; 31%

Thames Valley: 2,069; 445; 22%

Warwickshire: 390; 71; 18%

West Mercia: 757; 102; 13%

West Midlands: 5,115; 2,021; 40%

West Yorkshire: 4,627; 1,327; 29%

Wiltshire: 419; 81; 19%

Total: 61,851; 16,507; 27%