Avon & Somerset Joins Stop Racism Against Police Campaign

13 July 2026

Avon and Somerset Police Federation is backing the ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ campaign, as it emerged that the number of hate crimes recorded against its officers had increased by a huge 127% over the past year.

Across the UK, at least 5,355 hate crimes were committed against officers in the financial year 2025-26, a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request found. However, the true figure is likely to be much higher, as 13 forces were unable to provide data.

Avon and Somerset Police recorded 41 hate crimes against officers last year, compared to 18 the year before.

Tom Gent, Chair of Avon and Somerset Police Federation, said he was concerned that even this was an under-reported figure because officers sometimes felt abuse was a part of the job. He said: “Our message is that's not right, it shouldn't ever be accepted that you're abused as a police officer because of your race.”

The campaign ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ was started by Humberside Police Federation last year. It aims to collect data on the scale of the issue, raise awareness of what the police are facing, do more to protect officers and staff, and ensure offenders are dealt with appropriately. It is also aiming to get an amendment to the Emergency Workers' Act to make racial abuse or assault against a police officer to be separately recordable, rather than under the umbrella term of hate crime.

Tom said: “Abuse against police officers should not be tolerated. We're serving the public, doing our best in really difficult situations. We're seeing divisions in society, and that is reflected back onto individual police officers.

“We attend incidents, and it doesn't matter what your race is, we'll deal with things without fear or favour. But then to have really personal abuse directed at you – that’s unacceptable. That’s why the Federation is absolutely backing this campaign, and giving every support to those officers.

“When it is the same person being abused constantly, that can have a real impact. Policing is a family, and as a family we need to stand up against this, and make sure that it's properly dealt with.”

Tom encouraged officers to report any incident of hate crime, adding that he hoped the Crown Prosecution Service would act upon it. He explained: “We expect the support of the courts, because we have a policing by consent model in this country, and part of that is respecting the police. And where there's racist abuse, that's something that we need to deal with really seriously.”

His message to officers who witnessed their colleagues being racially abused was: “Take positive action, and step in. Policing is a family and we need to support each other, stand together and show that's not acceptable.”

Tom said he agreed with the campaign’s aim to get racial abuse and attacks recorded separately, so that forces could see the true scale of the problem.

He said: “That would send a message about how important this is. In policing, we want to be inclusive, we want to represent our communities, and to do that we need to show that tackling abuse is a real priority, not just for policing, but for the whole of the criminal justice system.

“And the public would want us to do that as well. They don't see it as acceptable either, so this campaign should have the support of the public. I am speaking to our Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner about it too, and I have no doubt they will support this campaign.”