What does the PSNI’s new set of hate crime statistics have to tell us?
On 14 May the PSNI released statistics for hate motivation crimes and incidents for the year ending 31 March 2026.
A quick look here shows the extent to which reports of both race based hate incidents and crimes have increased across the north in recent years (figure 1 of the PSNI statistics):
Several month-by-month charts over recent years show spikes in hate activity in the summer.
Race-based hate was the most frequent type of hate incident and crime reported, followed by sectarian hate. (It is important to note that the numbers for faith-based hate incidents and crimes are very small, potentially indicating that some Islamophobic hate incidents and crimes, for instance, may be recorded by the PSNI as based on race).
The council areas where reported race hate crimes and incidents increased by the largest amounts were Belfast, Mid & East Antrim and ABC council (figure 6 of the PSNI stats). This is particularly concerning as R.I.S.E. analysis of data since 2007 shows hate crime is already spatially concentrated in these areas, suggesting a known problem is not being robustly addressed.
With regard to race-based hate, the data show a 31% increase in reported incidents, and a 27% increase in reported crimes, on last year’s totals. This is extremely worrying, particularly as we know that both are significantly under-reported and paint an incomplete picture of the situation faced by members of ethnic minority communities here.
Meanwhile, the sanctions rate for race-based hate crimes - already low last year, at 16.8% - has dropped even farther, to 15.5%. This means that perpetrators are rarely held to account; and that is not helping community confidence in the authorities, or reporting rates.
The statistics include outcome rates by policing district. Going by these figures, Fermanagh & Omagh and Mid Ulster district councils, while both only having a handful of cases, appear to have gotten better at holding perpetrators to account: their sanctions rates have improved significantly (18% and 14% respectively). However just about everywhere else, sanctions rates have declined – particularly in Mid & East Antrim (by 13.6%) and Ards & North Down (by 10.5%).
Once this year’s hate crime data is released by NISRA at ward level, most likely in July this year, it will be added to the R.I.S.E. map.
