Photo: RNZ / Richard TindillerAlmost half the hate crimes reported to the police are being wrongly downgraded from a criminal offence, to either "incidents" in which no crime was committed, or to lower level crimes. Hate crimes include racially motivated abuse, violence, threats or intimidation, and the latest figures from police show the majority of staff do not know how to code them. According to the report published this week, 43 per cent of hate crime complaints have been downgraded from what should be classed as a criminal offence. Photo: RNZ / Luke McPakePolice only recently started recognising hate crimes - the move coming after the Christchurch terror attack in March last year. In a statement, police admitted they have a long way to go in their work on hate crime.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 02, 2020 19:18 UTC