'Racially Motivated Incidents Need To Be Recorded Properly'

16 September 2026

A Gloucestershire police officer who has been racially abused dozens of times says more needs to be done to record racially motivated incidents and flag up serial offenders.

PC Andy Macrae has been an officer in Gloucestershire Constabulary for seven years, and has suffered racial abuse every one of those years. He is pleased that Gloucestershire Police Federation is backing the ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ campaign and said he hoped it would get forces to record data on the scale of the issue. He said: “The Federation is our voice, so I think it's brilliant that they are supporting this campaign.”

He explained: “Unfortunately, I've faced more racism in my life over the past seven years, since being a police officer. I've been racially abused around 30 times. The abuse ranges from being told I should be a slave, I shouldn't be in this country, to people using the N-word. It takes its toll after a while.

“One of the hardest things about it is that I've been racially abused by people who I'm trying to help take to hospital, for instance. I’m getting singled out because of my skin colour. I've been standing alongside white colleagues, and I've got the abuse, so it is personal. We shouldn't get abused for just coming to work.”

PC Macrae has reported these incidents, and offenders have been arrested. He said: “I’m fortunate that my colleagues deem this unacceptable, and they arrest them. But when it goes up the chain, it's not reported the same as an assault, unfortunately. So it’s good that with this campaign it is being addressed and hopefully improved.”

He said he was generally “a very laid-back person” but has had to get therapy to help him deal with situations, adding that racial abuse “can hurt a lot more” than an assault, but is not taken as seriously. He said: “My actual team, up to Chief Inspector, are absolutely amazing, they're very supportive”, but he was disappointed that the force didn’t log racial abuse against officers. He said: “Hopefully, with this campaign, it will be registered, it will be logged, and higher-ups are aware of this and what all officers of protected characteristics are facing on a daily basis.”

Minority ethnic police officers should be told when they are going to arrest someone who is known to be racist, he said: “As a black officer, I’m at a disadvantage compared to a white officer when it comes to things like warnings of criminals. I will know if they're violent, but I won't know if they're racist. So I can get sent to potentially the most racist person in Gloucestershire because, even though they have committed hate crimes, it's not logged on our systems the same as if they were violent or a domestic abuser.

“There have been times when briefing slides have come out, and it says that the person wants to hurt and kill people who are non-white, who they don't see should be in this country. But there's nothing underneath there saying that if you are Jewish or Black or any other protected characteristic, that you shouldn't go to the call.”

PC Macrae has spoken to his sergeant about this issue, who has put warnings on offenders’ files. He added: “If they've committed offences against people, especially police officers, regardless of what it is, it should be treated the same as if they are physically violent. If they're extremely homophobic or racist, that should be noted as well.”

The mental health and wellbeing charity The Thin Blue Line UK is supporting the Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police campaign. To access free and confidential support, go to www.thinbluelineuk.org.uk/