Courts Must Take Racist Abuse Against Police Seriously

18 May 2026

The courts must take cases of racist abuse of police officers seriously, Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner has said, as he backs the Federation campaign, Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police.

There were 78 recorded hate crimes against Cleveland Police officers in 2024-25, up from 49 the previous year. One of the aims of the Federation campaign is for forces to collect specific data on racially motivated abuse of officers.

Cleveland’s PCC, Matt Storey, said: “It was really worrying to see the scale of the figures. I think racism and racial abuse is becoming more prevalent in society generally. Unfortunately, people feel more emboldened to speak and act in ways that are deeply offensive. It shows how anyone, no matter who you are, even if you are a police officer, can still be a victim of racism in your daily life and work.”

He continued: “Tackling racism is something that's really important to me as Police and Crime Commissioner. I'm very supportive of the North East Anti-Racism Coalition, which is doing a lot of work around community cohesion and tackling racism in the North East, and I also chair the local Strategic Hate Crime Partnership.

“So when [Cleveland Police Federation Chair] Lauren suggested supporting this campaign, I thought it really does fit with what we're trying to do here in Cleveland to make it a welcoming place for everyone, from every background.”

The Federation has spoken to officers who said they haven’t reported racist incidents because they don’t want to make more work for their colleagues and they don’t think anything will come of it.

Matt said: “It's understandable that some people are reticent to come forward, but I would always say to them: if we don't report these things, then we don't know the full scale of the issues. That also means that the culture doesn't change and things don't improve.

“But it isn't always easy to come forward when you've been a victim of hate crime, so if there are barriers or things that need fixing to make that easier and make people feel more comfortable, then that's part of my job and the Chief's job to make sure that we get those things done.”

One of the stated aims of the campaign is to get racist abuse against police officers counted as a separate recordable offence, rather than under the wider banner of hate crime, and Matt said he hoped he could help influence this change and push the Home Office on the issue.

He added that courts must take hate crime and racist abuse seriously: “I definitely think that the punishment should be as harsh as it can possibly be – if people are being targeted because of their race, it makes that crime that much more offensive and that much more serious.

“I've personally been disappointed by some of the sentences dished out for hate crime. Victims I've spoken to from diverse communities in Cleveland have been disappointed and have lost faith in the judicial system because of some of the weak sentences that have been dished out for pretty horrendous crimes that were upsetting and traumatic.

“It goes the same for the police as well. We need to make sure that we're discouraging and deterring people from thinking it's acceptable to behave in that way in society, and that we don't normalise some of these behaviours. The best way to do that is to make sure that we come down as hard as we can on people who think it's acceptable to target someone because of their race.”

Matt added that he would talk to the local Crown Prosecution Service about following Humberside Police’s lead so that, if an officer reports a racially motivated crime against them and no action is taken, the CPS will automatically review it.

Matt said his door was always open to Cleveland Police officers who wanted to talk about their experience of racist abuse: “While I'm not responsible for the operational side, and I wouldn't ever want to encroach on what the Chief Constable does, I'm here to support people in whatever way I can.

“I have regular meetings with the local welfare support teams here at Cleveland Police, and I’ve got a good relationship with the Federation, so I'm more than happy to talk to officers or support officers in any way that I can, to help them if they are suffering from racial abuse.”