Thin Blue Line UK Joins Stop Racism Against Police Campaign

21 July 2026

Police officers who suffer racist abuse can now access an independent support network, as the charity Thin Blue Line UK joins the Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police campaign.

The Thin Blue Line UK is a mental health and wellbeing charity for police officers, which provides support via a confidential app, Thrive, that gives officers access to mental health and wellbeing check-ins, a mental health and wellbeing tracker, and access to trained counsellors. It is designed to complement other mental health and wellbeing support networks, and can be used anonymously.

Gary Craig, a serving Inspector in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, set up the Thin Blue Line UK following the murders of GMP officers PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone in 2012. It began as a Facebook page to raise awareness of what police officers do day in, day out.

Soon after, Gary decided to sell badges to raise money to help provide mental health support, before organising what has now become an annual fundraising ball. The Thin Blue Line UK became a registered charity in 2019.

He explained: “One of the big things going for the Thin Blue Line UK is that we're run by police officers, for police officers, so we built up that level of trust with our supporters and our followers.

“We had quite a good relationship with the Police Treatment Centres, which is where we found out about Thrive. They have come on board with us, and that's one of the main mechanisms of how we support our officers.

“We always want to support what is in force, and to just give police officers another option. Thrive is a fantastic option for officers. As a police officer myself, I know it's really, really difficult to say you need help, because we've got this attitude in ourselves that we're police officers, it's expected of us. We try to break those barriers down and make it as easy as possible.

“Coming to work could be the one thing that's keeping you going, but as soon as you turn around to a supervisor, they could be risk averse and say ‘I’m going to redeploy you’. Then that feeds into people not saying anything and trying to struggle on.

“If police officers reach out to us, we don't ask any questions. If you're a police officer, or a police staff member, and you need help, all you have to do is just ask us. If you want to talk to us, we'll listen. I'll give you access instantly to the app, and you can get the help that you so desperately need, and nobody else needs to know about it.”

The Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police campaign was started by Humberside Police Federation, and Chair Lee Sims reached out to the Thin Blue Line UK to ask for their support, having realised the impact that racial abuse could have on officers’ mental health.

A Freedom of Information request found that there have been 16,267 hate crimes recorded against police officers in the UK since 2022. In forces that were able to provide figures for more than one year, that reflects a 24% increase in the past year alone.

Gary described as “abhorrent” that officers throughout the UK are suffering racist abuse while carrying out their duty. He said backing the Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police campaign was “hugely important”.

He explained: “Being a police officer is difficult enough as it is, with the trauma that we see daily, the abuse that we get. But if you're getting an additional layer of abuse because of the colour of your skin, because of whatever race you are, it just galls me. It is absolutely abhorrent.

“And to think that my colleagues are getting that on a daily basis, and then not getting the help that they need. I just want to make access to proper support as easy as possible.

“If certain officers or groups of officers are getting abuse because of something as ridiculous as the colour of their skin, then I want to put on record that we are totally opposed to this and this behaviour, and it needs to be called out because it's abhorrent.

“The officers involved know that there's a charity there that is able and willing to support them at the time and point of need, and whenever they want. And if we can make that as easy as possible for them to come to us, then being part of this campaign is hugely important to us as a charity.

“Life's difficult enough, and the job's difficult enough without having that extra level of stress. Some of the stories that have come to light because of the campaign, it just breaks my heart because it's so uncalled for and it's so unjustified. Nobody deserves that.

“Racism now, it's not behind closed doors anymore, it just seems to be becoming more and more acceptable in certain quarters. People don't even try to hide it anymore, and I just don't think it's being challenged enough. I think that it's disgraceful the way some officers are being treated simply because of who they are.

“If you're taking that level of hatred home with you, and have no way to safely deal with that, that's a recipe for disaster as far as I'm concerned. You need to be able to recognise that you shouldn't be targeted like this, and that there is help out there. You shouldn't have to suffer alone in silence with that sort of level of hatred. Because we're all human beings at the end of the day.

“People are going to take this personally. Even though they're coming from not very nice people, some of this is going to land, and some of this you're going to take it home with you, and you're going to mull it over, and you're going to be affected by it. That's not healthy. You need to be able to switch off when you go home from work, and you need to be able to relax properly, and having that to deal with, on top of everything else, is just an extra burden I don't think anybody deserves.”

To access mental health and wellbeing support via the Thin Blue Line UK, go to www.thinbluelineuk.org.uk/