Protect Police From 'Scourge' Of Racism

8 October 2026

“Racism within policing is an absolute scourge”, the Chair of Cumbria Police Federation has said, as he backed the ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ campaign.

Across the UK, at least 5,355 hate crimes – including 34 in Cumbria – were reported to have been committed against officers in the financial year 2025-26, a recent Freedom of Information request found.

Worryingly, the number of reported hate crimes against officers in Cumbria has doubled in a year. In addition, the true national figure is likely to be much higher, as 13 forces were unable to provide data.

Humberside Police Federation started the campaign ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ in order 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.

Ed Russell, Chair of Cumbria Police Federation, said: “Racism within policing is an absolute scourge. It's unacceptable behaviour, and anything that forces can do to get behind it and to protect the protectors is vital to policing.”

His message to Cumbria Police officers who experience hate crime is: “Speak up, we want to support you, and we need to know how big the problem is. No one deserves to come to work and be abused, either physically or verbally. Too often, police officers are expected to just accept abuse as it ‘comes with the job’. This is not acceptable. If you or your colleagues are the victim of such abuse, it must be reported and dealt with robustly.”

Ed added that Cumbria Police had a relatively low percentage of ethnic minority officers, but that that could make it more difficult for officers to report hate crime because they might feel that their colleagues or supervisors didn’t understand.

He said: “All officers need to be upstanders. If you’re hearing or seeing that sort of behaviour towards your colleagues, you need to report it and draw it to managers' attention, because even one instance of that kind of abuse against an officer is one instance too many.”

Ed said he backed the campaign’s aim to make racist abuse and assaults against officers a separate, recordable offence: “This disproportionately affects a minority of our members, and affects them in such a horrendous way, so we need to be doing our best collectively to address that, get the law changed and assist our colleagues.

“We're all in it together for the protection of the public and to create the best societies that we can. We can't do that if we start from a point of view where people are treated differently because of their race or religion.

“The increase in hate crime against officers is a significant concern for our Federation, as it should be for the force. No one should be treated like that for doing their job, for putting on their uniform and trying to protect the public. Tackling racism is everyone’s responsibility.”

He added: “And to the minority who chose to spew hatred and bile towards the Cumbrian public and police officers alike, we will always have a cell free for you.”