West Yorkshire Police Federation joins Humberside Police Federation's Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police Campaign

11 February 2026

West Yorkshire Police Federation has joined Humberside Police Federation's Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police campaign as it emerged that, over the past three years, there have been 1,240 hate crimes against West Yorkshire officers.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request to UK police forces 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.

Lee Sims, Chair of Humberside Police Federation, said: "We are delighted West Yorkshire Police Federation have joined our campaign highlighting the appalling racist abuse our colleagues can endure on duty.

"We continue to call for more support from politicians of all parties on this matter and push for change - and the stiffest punishments for the perpetrators.

"We would encourage more Federations across the country to join us in this campaigning work."

Shockingly, the number of hate crimes against West Yorkshire Police officers has gone up by 29% over three years. West Yorkshire Police recorded 440 hate crimes against officers in the financial year 2024-2025, second only to the Metropolitan Police. But some large forces such as Police Scotland and Greater Manchester Police were unable to provide figures, suggesting an even bigger crisis.

Craig Nicholls, Chair of West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “Our officers are facing a growing level of abuse, and it's time to stand up and say: ‘Enough is enough’.” That’s why the Federation has joined the campaign, ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’, started by Humberside Police Federation last year.

"The campaign aims to raise awareness of the scale of the racism against police and do more to protect officers and staff."

Craig explained: “Over the past three years in West Yorkshire, we’ve seen 1,240 hate crimes perpetrated against the very people who put themselves on the line for our communities. Their families live in our communities, they are our communities. And those officers are subject to abhorrent levels of abuse.”

The numbers are likely to be even higher, as not all officers report hate crime, possibly because they don’t believe anything will be done about it, said Craig: “One officer I worked with was subject to racism, and his exact words were: ‘It's just one of those things mate, don't worry about it’.”

Craig continued: “People aren’t minimising or excusing racism, but sometimes they just want to get on with the job. Far too many officers simply don’t report it, and we need to understand why. I think they’re busy, they don’t think anything will come of it, and they’re almost conditioned to expect it.

“We need to change that narrative. We need to make the process for reporting this quicker and simpler. Officers need to see an actual response: if they report hate crime, it's got to be followed up properly.

“West Yorkshire Police is incredibly good at putting welfare plans in place. But we need to change the culture and let people know that hate is not just part of the job. We've got to tell line managers to encourage reporting more than we currently do. We need to let officers know that they’re going to be supported.

“Hate crime is unacceptable when it’s aimed at the public, and it should be unacceptable when it’s aimed at our officers and every other blue light service too.”