The research by Victim Support found most victims of hate crimes, which included verbal abuse, property damage and assault, suffered in silence. Only one in five who reported the offences felt supported by police and many criticised officers for failing to act, particularly over low-level harassment.
Some who experienced continued victimisation saw the abuse as part of daily life and even gave up leaving the house. Others lost their home or business because of arson, vandalism or having to move to get away from their abusers.
They gave fear of going to court, concern about revenge attacks and a lack of understanding from the police as reasons for not reporting what was happening.
Peter Dunn, head of research and development at Victim Support, said: "Hate crime symbolises all the worst aspects of prejudice. Our research shows that it has a more profoundly damaging affect on victims that is often not fully understood by the criminal justice system."
He said the report's findings, obtained through interviews with 107 hate crime victims and a survey of support organisations, would be shared to try to improve the help available. The organisation helps 30,000 victims of racist crime every year and the numbers are rising.
Maxie Hayles, head of Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit, said agencies needed to prioritise hate crimes.
"The fact is that people do not trust the criminal justice system and would rather suffer the terror than risk not being helped," he said.
Although the Home Office publishes figures for recorded racist incidents and racially or religiously aggravated offences - up 7% and 6% respectively last year - a spokeswoman said it did not break down figures for victimisation based on sexual orientation or disability.
The actions of the officers initially involved in this incident are subject to internal investigation. We must wait to see if there are any lessons to be learned. But it is important to recognise that the vast majority of victims of race hate crime are satisfied with the way they are treated by the Metropolitan police.
In a recent independent survey of victims of crime in London, 88% of victims of racially aggravated crime were satisfied with the way they were treated; 75% were satisfied with the time it took police to arrive; 88% agreed that they were dealt with sympathetically and 84% felt police had taken the matter seriously.As an organisation we are constantly striving to improve how we investigate hate crime. As part of a recent review of our response to hate crime we carried out an extensive consultation to take into account the views of victims, policy-makers, practitioners and other agencies to ensure that we provide the best possible service. At the core of this is finding ways of increasing trust in us to encourage more people to come forward.
The article reports that there is unwillingness by officers to properly record and investigate racist incidents. Of course we don't always get it right, but in the substantial majority of cases we provide a bespoke professional and effective service to our victims. Each London borough has a dedicated community safety unit, which is comprised of specially trained officers who investigate hate crime and provide support to victims. These 32 units are supported and monitored centrally to ensure officers deliver on performance, quality of investigations and victim care.
In 2004 we introduced new operating procedures for dealing with hate crimes, which ensured effective evidence-gathering by officers at all stages of the investigation. This led to an increase in prosecutions and more perpetrators than ever being held to account.
We have now enlisted a number of third-party agencies where the public can report hate crime should they not wish to speak directly to police. People can also report hate crime online. In addition, we have set up a free 24-hour helpline staffed by volunteers with language and other specialist skills.
Hate crime destroys lives and undermines communities. We well understand that our response affects the confidence of victims, families and communities in our ability to protect them from harm. Our determination, through working with and listening to all involved, is to respond professionally, compassionately and respectfully and ensure there is no hiding place for those who are motivated by hate.
· Commander Steve Allen is head of the Metropolitan Police violent crime directorate new.scotland.yard@met.police.uk
Unpublished letter to the Guardian, 22 August 06, from Black Women's
Rape Action Project & Women Against Rape
Dear Editor
Something is seriously wrong if the police
respond to criticism by trying to discredit the facts with doubtful
statistics.
You reported an assault by a white man on a
Muslim mother which took our intervention to get a prosecution and
conviction despite police negligence ('Don't you want to know why I'm
bleeding?', 2 Aug). Commander Steve Allen's Response (17 Aug) was to
claim that 88% of victims of racist crimes are satisfied with their
treatment by the police.
He chose a survey the Met commissioned from a
private corporation, rather than a Victim Support survey which concluded
that: "Only one in five who reported [racist assault] felt supported by
police and many criticised officers for failing to act . . ." (17 Aug).
He also neglected to mention that his figures
are based on just 43 victims, 14 of whom are white, and that even
according to these 43 there was little investigation and no prosecution.
In our experience police treatment of racist
violence parallels that of sexual violence. The attacker's version of
events is often prioritized over the victim's, the gathering of evidence
is biased and incompetent, as is the Crown Prosecution Service evaluation
of it. This largely explains the low rate of prosecution for both
reported rape and racist attack – 5.3% and 9.5% respectively.
The first step to raising the standard of
justice for women and for everyone is for those in charge to acknowledge
the problem. Those officers on the ground (often women) who do their best
for victims and sometimes call us in frustration, would be among the first
to rejoice.
Cristel Amiss, Black Women's Rape Action
Project
Lisa Longstaff, Women Against Rape
Crossroads Women's Centre
230a Kentish Town Road
London NW5 2AB
Camden New Journal, Letters to the Editor, 10 August 2006
"Conviction was thanks to our groups' efforts"
Sir,
Your report ("Pregnant woman issues complaint against cops" 3 Aug) about the
conviction of Gary Reid for GBH against Ms
Bilan Mohamud
misses a key point. That is, the involvement of our Women’s Centre to which the
family came for help when the police refused to investigate how Ms
Mohamud came
to be injured.
The Judge said "It's a fact that the police needed a bit of prompting," and got
it from our two organisations.
When the defence questioned the
police about why there was no police record of racist language, the Judge
explained: "Nothing was recorded."We
heard in court from the police that they took no statements at the scene.
We heard how Mr Hussein, Ms
Mohamud 's
husband, tried for four days to find out a crime number and was eventually
informed that the case must have been closed, as there was no record of the
incident on the police computers.
Five days after the attack, when Ms
Mohamud came to us, we were on the phone to the police for four hours before
they would agree to take a statement from, Ms Mohamud.
It is another indictment of the criminal justice system that without the
pressure we exerted there would have been no prosecution let alone a conviction,
and another violent and racist man would still be walking the streets.
People
should know what it takes to get justice, and what we must do to help ourselves
and each other. Why did our local paper omit this work by two local
organisations when even the national press (Guardian 2 August) gave us the
credit?
Lisa Longstaff,
Women Against Rape Cristel Amiss, Black Women's Rape Action Project
Crossroads Women's Centre, NW5