Belfast community worker claims reporting hate crimes to PSNI a 'waste of time'
A Belfast community worker has said those who experience hate crimes believe it is a "waste of their time" reporting the incidents to the PSNI.
Alexis Ekwueme from Belfast City of Sanctuary told BBC News NI that police must do more to reassure ethnic minority groups that reports will be taken seriously.
Earlier this year, a report from the PSNI and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency showed that there were 1,353 racist incidents and 839 racist crimes reported in the 12 months from March 2023 to 2024. This is the highest figure for race hate incidents since police records began in 2004/05, with almost half of recorded incidents in Belfast.
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Ms Ekwueme is from Nigeria and works closely with migrants in the city, and said many were left frustrated after racist riots broke out across Belfast during the summer, resulting in businesses and homes in South Belfast being damaged.
A Stormont committee was recently told ethnic minority communities ahve seen a "failure in addressing racism" in Northern Ireland in the wake of these incidents.
Ms Ekwueme said, while the police response to the violence was good, there was still a lack of confidence in the force to handle hate crimes.
She told BBC NI: "You will see people who will come forward... who have reported several times, and nothing has happened. Because of that, they feel it is a waste of their time."
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force would do everything in its power “to bring people to justice for these hateful crimes."
He added that police did not "underestimate the impact hate crimes have" on victims, families, and the wider community. ACC Singleton said: "It is totally unacceptable that anyone is targeted simply because of who they are or where they come from. We will continue to stand with our diverse communities against those cowards who would attack them".
Ms Ekwueme said there needed to be fewer words and more action taken to gain the trust of people in communities across Northern Ireland.
"If the police are actually convincing us that something will happen, maybe people will [report] more," she said.
"All you hear is ‘the PSNI will do this, they will do that’ and then you call them, and it is not regarded as what it is. Sometimes they say it is just kids."
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