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<\/a><\/p>\nHate crime incidents in Midlothian increased by more than 30% as police continued to deal with the \u2018hangover\u2019 over new laws last year.<\/p>\n
A Police Scotland update on crime in Midlothian reported the number of hate crimes recorded between October, last year,\u00a0 and March was 181 -nearly a third higher than the five years average covering the same period.<\/p>\n
Acting local area commander Kirsty McArthur-Kerr told a meeting of Midlothian Police and Fire Board that the offences covered a range of aggravators including disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender.<\/p>\n
And she said the rise was anticipated in the wake of the introduction of the\u00a0Hate Crime and Public Order\u00a0(Scotland) Act that was introduced on the 1st of April 2024.<\/p>\n
Inspector McArthur-Kerr told the board: \u201cWe are still seeing the hangover from that and we continue to work with partners to encourage reporting of all hate crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHate has no place in society and Midlothian police will actively pursue offenders and report criminality where\u00a0evidence supports this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report revealed that elsewhere operations were having a positive impact on incidents across the county with no fatalities on the roads reports over the last year \u2013 something Councillor Peter Smaill hailed as not recalling being reported before.<\/p>\n
And there was a drop on housebreaking incidents, including attempted break-ins by nearly 13% with the detection rate higher than the national average at almost 39%.<\/p>\n
Inspector McArthur-Kerr said a dedicated housebreaking team had been established in the county with officers hand picked for their investigation skills.<\/p>\n
She told the board the team was able to look at not just individual reports, but bring them together to look for trends and tackle them.<\/p>\n
She added the availability of dashcam footage and doorbell camera and CCTV had made\u00a0a huge difference to catching criminals telling the board \u201cit is worth its weight on gold.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n
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