Racist attacks in Northern Ireland have surged by 60 per cent in the last year, police chiefs revealed today. Assaults on gays and lesbians also doubled during the same period.
Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton confirmed the startling levels of race hate and homosexual intimidation during a briefing to the Policing Board in Belfast.
Although police met targets in several key areas including burglaries, car crime and drink driving, the monitoring body expressed concern over performances.
Although detection rates for violent crime rose to 48.5 per cent, they still fell well short of the 55 per cent goal set in the policing plan.
Confidence levels among people who think the PSNI does a good job was 62 per cent against a target of 70 per cent.
But board members were shocked to learn the extent to which hate crimes have taken hold in Northern Ireland.
With Chinese families, Africans and eastern Europeans all being targeted during a campaign which has been particularly intense in the loyalist Village district of south Belfast, Mr Leighton disclosed the extent of the problem.
Police figures for the first three quarters of the current financial year do not include the most recent incidents of thuggery against ethnic minorities.
But they showed the number of racist incidents has increased to 267 compared with 167 for the same period last year.
Homophobic incidents also doubled in the same period.
Professor Desmond Rea, chairman of the 19-member authority which holds the police to account, insisted tough questions would be asked.
He said: "In all cases of concern the board will be asking the Chief Constable what action he is taking to ensure that targets are met."