WILTSHIRE Police have said hate crime in the county is relatively low compared with other parts of the country.

The statement comes during Hate Crime Awareness Week, this week, as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched a public consultation asking for community views to help shape future policy to improve the response to homophobic and transphobic hate crime.

Superintendent Adrian Burt, Head of Crime Standards and Justice for Wiltshire said: “In Wiltshire we are fortunate the number of hate crimes is relatively low when compared with other parts of the country.

"In the past year there have been 146 hate crime Incidents which amounts to 551 recorded crimes. Of these there have been two incidents of transphobic hate crime and 17 hate crimes incidents based on sexual orientation.”

“We know that reporting of hate crimes amongst the LGBT community is low and research by campaigning organisation Stonewall states that 75 percent of LGBT hate crimes go unreported. I would encourage all victims of any hate crime to make a report. It is the only way we will be able to stop it and build a fairer society.”

Wiltshire figures are low compared with figures released from Wessex Police where over the 12 months up to the end of June 2016, there were 82 Homophobic and Transphobic Hate Crimes, with 92.7 per cent resulting in a conviction, providing the highest conviction rate nationally.

This week a 17-year old appeared at Southampton Youth Court having pleaded guilty to a number of offences including a section 4A Public Order Act 1986 offence, of causing harassment, alarm and distress to a police officer who he subjected to a tirade of abusive homophobic language following being arrested for other matters. The officer recounted later that the barrage of abuse regarding his sexuality and the threat to find his home address raised serious concerns about his safety outside of work.

The judge indicated that the sentence would be custodial, a six month detention and training order and went on to say that if the offence had not been homophobic the defendant would only have received a youth rehabilitation order, which would not have included a custodial element.

In the same year Wessex also prosecuted 529 Racially and Religiously Aggravated Hate Crimes with 86.4 per cent resulting in a conviction, providing a conviction rate above the national average.

The CPS is the main public prosecution service for England and Wales, headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Although it works closely with the police, it is an independent body.

The police are responsible for investigating criminal offences and for gathering the evidence but the CPS has the responsibility for deciding (in all but the most minor cases) whether a suspect should be charged with a criminal offence and, if so, what the charge.

A spokesman for the CPS said: "We regard a racist or religiously motivated incident as any incident which is perceived to be racist or religiously motivated by the victim or any other person. An offence is racially or religiously aggravated if at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrates towards the victim of the offence hostility based on the victim's membership (or presumed membership) of a racial or religious group; or the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards members of a racial or religious group based on their membership of that group.

Certain offences, including assault, harassment, criminal damage and public order offences, can be prosecuted specifically as racially or religiously-aggravated offences.