Stark Figures Show Level Of Anti-Police Hate Crimes

5 February 2026

At least 11,000 hate crimes against UK police officers have been reported over the past three years, but Humberside Police Federation says this is just “the tip of the iceberg”.

Police Oracle sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to UK police forces and found that there were 10,922 reported hate crimes against officers from 27 forces from 2022 to 2025. However, the true figure is likely to be much higher – even close to double – as another 21 forces were not able to provide the information.

In the most recent figures, collected in the financial year 2024-2025, there were 3,648 reported hate crimes with police officer victims – 31 of these in Humberside. A huge 1,407 hate crimes were committed against Metropolitan Police officers, yet the next two biggest forces, Police Scotland and Greater Manchester Police, were unable to provide figures, suggesting an even larger crisis.

At the end of last year, Humberside Police Federation launched the campaign ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’, in order to collect data on how big a problem racism is, to raise awareness, and do more to protect police officers and staff.

Humberside Police Federation Chair Lee Sims was shocked by the new national hate crime findings, saying: “I knew this wouldn't just be a Humberside problem, but I was shocked by how high the figures really are. I'm really grateful to our Chief Constable, Chris Todd, who has backed our campaign. But now I think it's time that more Federation branches and more Chief Constables come on board to support officers.

He continued: “When we surveyed our officers and staff members who are from an ethnic minority background, a lot of them said: ‘I'm not going to report it because I don't want to be a victim’, or ‘I don't want to report it because I know nothing will get done’. But I was really encouraged that, recently, an officer from Bridlington spoke out about his experiences of racist abuse – it took a lot of courage to speak out in the press and on TV. However, I was absolutely appalled by some of the comments on social media, which show that we all need to stand together and support all our colleagues who suffer racial abuse, or any sort of hate crime.”

Dan Haile, Secretary of Humberside Police Federation, said: “These figures are almost certainly the tip of the iceberg, as not all the forces in the country have responded. The reality is that racial abuse towards officers is far more widespread than we're aware of. So I call on forces to give us these figures. Let's open up the conversation and see what our officers and police staff have to deal with on a daily basis, so that we can understand the scale of the issue.

“Forces need to record this properly and take this seriously. There's also a need for a change in legislation, but initially it’s about raising awareness and actually recording it, so we can understand the picture. If we don’t do anything about this, we risk normalising racial abuse.”

Lee said: “We’re now aware of the forces that haven't supplied figures, and we're going to reach out to their Federation branches to ask them to get them.

“Our initial campaign is about stopping racism against police. However, we are aware that there are other types of hate crime against police officers, and that police officer assaults keep rising; this is only the start of what we want to achieve. The end goal is to have all hate crime dealt with properly – our whole aim is to get better protection for all officers.”

Andy Rhodes, Wellbeing Lead for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said the national hate crime figures were concerning and that the NPCC would work with forces to improve their data collection around this.

He said: “Officers come to work every day to protect people, not to suffer abuse and harassment. We know that when communities experience a feeling of division, it is common for officers and other frontline workers to bear the brunt. However, this is inexcusable, and forces will continue to do all they can to bring offenders to justice.

“Operation Hampshire is our national programme to ensure all officers and staff receive consistent welfare support and incidents are properly recorded and prosecuted where appropriate. Hate crimes are included in these offences.

“I encourage anyone who is a victim of hate crime to report it through the usual channels and we will continue to work with forces to improve their data collection and analysis so that the insights can be used to intervene early.”