'No One Should Have To Tolerate This'

17 September 2026

South Yorkshire Police Federation is backing the ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ campaign, after 103 hate crimes against its officers were reported last 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.

The campaign ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ was started by Humberside Police Federation and 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.  

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “No one should have to tolerate this. You shouldn't come to work to be assaulted, kicked and punched, but you also shouldn't come to work to have horrific racial abuse; it's not acceptable. For me, it's no different to being punched in the face.

“So it is so important that we support this campaign. I have to give credit to our force, which is very good when it comes to Operation Hampshire. We have an active system of supporting officers who are victims of assault, including verbal racist and sexist offences.

“But there still needs to be far more awareness about the scale of racism against the police. Sometimes there seems to be an unintentional priority of monitoring assaults that result in cuts and bruises and black eyes, when actually the emotional impact of abuse, whether it’s based on race or gender or any protective characteristic, has a massive impact on officers.”

Steve continued: “We know officers in our force have been victims of this, but a lot of them absorb it and may not report it – they need to have the confidence to discuss it with each other and make colleagues aware, so they can challenge it if they hear it from a member of the public and deal with it appropriately. We need to all look after each other and support our colleagues if they are on the receiving end of this horrific abuse.

“We need to get these offenders in front of the courts so the courts can start to see the number of incidents that are happening. Otherwise the issue will remain hidden. That’s why this campaign is so important – it lets officers know that there is support in place.”

Steve encouraged officers who have been subjected to racist abuse to approach their Federation Rep for advice or support. He added: “And if they are going to court for the incident, we can organise a Fed Rep to go with them.”

He also asked officers who witnessed their colleagues being racially abused to step in and take action, saying: “The way I see it, this is no different than what you should do if your colleague was punched in the face. Our officers would act. They'll take positive action and they'll deal with it. I would ask them to do exactly the same in this scenario, which I’m sure a lot of our officers already do.

“When we speak to officers who have suffered this kind of abuse, it's not just once or twice in a year, or several times in the service. They'll say: ‘This happens all the time and I'll only act if it's really serious because otherwise I'd be challenging it every minute’.

“But as soon as someone receives this abuse, there needs to be positive action. If people go to court for this, coupled with the awareness from this campaign, the people out there committing these crimes may well start to think twice.”

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/