Police officer a victim of 21 hate crimes and racially aggravated assaults in three years

PC Mourad Karaouani was at one point the number one victim of hate crime in the entire East Riding area.

He is speaking out now to support Humberside Police Federation’s campaign, Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police.

He said: “As soon as I started going to jobs, there were hate incidents every week. Even in the jobs that I wasn’t directly involved in, if I’d been called as backup, people would turn their hate towards me. Sometimes the suspect would say: “I have no issue being arrested. I've admitted what I've done is wrong. However, I don’t want him to touch me’.

“As a new officer, I was thinking, is it something I do that makes people hate me? Is it the way I speak to people? I’d go back to my station, put my body-worn video on and watch the way I interacted with people. It made me doubt myself.

“It was happening so often that it was reviewed by supervisors, and it was established that there was definitely nothing that I was saying that was instigating that kind of hate, it was just because of my skin colour.

“After a couple of months, I was surprised when a colleague from the neighbourhood team said ‘Today in the briefing, we were told you are number one in East Riding for being a victim of hate crime’.

“I said ‘Really?’, and he said ‘Yeah, we literally had your picture in our briefing’. He then reassured me that his team would attend as quickly as possible if they heard of any disturbances.”

Mourad was asked if he would like to change stations and go to a more multicultural city, such as Hull, where it might be easier for a black officer.

But Mourad decided not to move. He explained: “I like my team here, and if I go somewhere else just because it's easier for me, what about other officers? What about other people that come to Bridlington to live, and who are from different minorities or have a different skin colour?

“Why do I have to move somewhere else to avoid those kinds of incidents? In fact, those people need to change their mindset.”

Mourad agreed there have been times when he hasn’t reported every instance of verbal abuse. But he still thinks it’s important to report hate crimes, saying: “If I'm a police officer in uniform, having to go through this, what would it be like for a member of the public? It could be a refugee, it could be a person who doesn't speak the language. So to me, it is my duty to actually stay here and report it.”

Humberside Police Federation Chair Lee Sims described Mourad’s experience as ‘disgusting’ and said the officer had the full backing of the force’s federation.

Lee said: “What Mourad has had to endure in such a short space of time is absolutely disgusting – no police officer should ever be subject to racist abuse while they are carrying out their duty to protect the public.

“Mourad has the full support of Humberside Police Federation, and his experience illustrates exactly why we have started the Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police campaign.

“One incident is one too many, there is no room for this in society and our colleagues do not come to work to suffer any hate crime. There is simply no excuse for this abuse, and it must stop.

“There is no place for racism – and this kind of abuse against our colleagues needs the toughest of punishments and deterrents. We all need to stand together."