Racist attacks in Northern Ireland have surged by 60 per cent in the last year, police chiefs revealed today. Assaults on gays and lesbians also doubled during the same period.
PSNI deputy chief constable Paul Leighton confirmed the figures during a briefing to the Policing Board in Belfast today.
Although police met targets in several key areas including burglaries, car crime and drink driving, the monitoring body expressed concern over performances.
Although detection rates for violent crime rose to 48.5 per cent, they still fell well short of the 55 per cent goal set in the policing plan.
Confidence levels among people who think the PSNI does a good job was 62per cent against a target of 70 per cent.
But board members were shocked to learn the extent to which hate crimes have taken hold in the North. Professor Desmond Rea, chairman of the 19-member authority which holds the police to account, insisted tough questions would be asked. He said: "In all cases of concern the board will be asking the Chief Constable what action he is taking to ensure that targets are met."
However, police performance was much more impressive in other areas, domestic burglaries fell by 12 per cent, car crimes dropped by 18 per cent and drink or drug driving detections went up by 16 per cent.
Drug seizures also increased to 1,486 from 1,371 and the number of people charged for narcotics offences also rose.
Prof Rea described the performance summary as crucial for future planning and judging if the police service is winning its battle on the streets.
He added: "If PSNI are to meet their targets, and so provide the people of Northern Ireland with a safer community to live in, PSNI also needs the help and support of all the community in detecting and preventing crime.
"The board will continue to ensure that the community has a police service that is effective and efficient but all of us, as members of the community, have a role to play in making Northern Ireland safer."
PA