Racist crimes in the North rose by nearly 20 per cent last year, the PSNI revealed today.
The surge in attacks on ethnic minorities formed part of an overall 4.3 per cent increase in offences recorded, even though major successes in thwarting vehicle crime, burglaries and drugs seizures were included in the new figures.
Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde expressed disappointment at the rise. One priority area for his officers has been in tackling racially motivated crimes, but the statistics showed 746 were reported between April 2005 and March 2006. That represented a rise of 112 (17.7 per cent).
Police believe increased confidence among victims who had been subjected to assaults or had their homes attacked was part of the reason. But they also accept that the
North has become a much more diverse society as more migrant workers come in search of employment.
One in five of all racially motivated crimes (20.5 per cent) were successfully cleared last year, according to the figures.
In other areas, the Police Service of Northern Ireland was able to disclose the lowest level of road traffic collision injuries in 10 years as the number dropped by 4.2 per cent.
Vehicle crime went down by 17.3 per cent, burglaries fell by 4.1 per cent and just over 15 per cent more drugs were seized. But despite crime levels still being down by 14 per cent since 2002/03, the total of just over 123,000 offences across the North last year included significant rises in both violent crime and criminal damage.
Part of that has been attributed to breaches in non-molestation orders being included in the figures for the first time, and 600 offences linked to the riots that erupted around a flashpoint Orange Order parade in Belfast last September.