The number of racially-motivated crimes reported to Scotland's biggest police force has risen to an all-time high, according to official figures.

But Strathclyde Police Chief Constable John Orr says it is difficult to tell whether offences have risen or if the figures are due to victims' "strengthened confidence" in reporting incidents.

Between April and December 1999, police were told about 616 incidents of race crimes, up by 262 (74%) on the same period the previous year.

This is the third year in succession that reported race crime in Strathclyde has risen. Reported racial crime for the whole of 1998/99 totalled 527, up from 481 in 1997/98.

Mr Orr said: "The latest figures are of great concern because they indicate a disturbing and unacceptable level of racist crime within our community.

'More inclined to report'

"It certainly appears that people are becoming more inclined to report racial incidents of whatever nature to the police than ever before.

"I firmly believe that the wide-ranging revision of our Race Relations Policy in July 1997 has played a key part in the successive annual increases in recorded race crime in Strathclyde by encouraging ethnic communities to tell us about racial crime."

An informal opinion survey of 40 race crime victims in Strathclyde has revealed that 55% felt that race crime was on the increase.

However, 72.5% expressed "complete" satisfaction with the way Strathclyde Police dealt with their complaint.

Failure to be told the outcome of the investigation was the biggest cause of complaint among the minority of victims expressing dissatisfaction with the force's service.

'Combination of factors

All 40 - who had fallen victim to race crime between April and September 1999 - felt a combination of factors was responsible for the rise in the number of complaints.

Nearly three-quarters said increased confidence in the police was one of the reasons.

Among the other reasons cited were greater awareness about being able to report such crimes (70%) and increased media coverage on race issues (52.5%).

Councillor Bashir Maan, convener of Strathclyde Joint Police Board, said: "I firmly believe that the rise in the statistics is due to increased awareness and enhanced confidence among ethnic minority communities in the Strathclyde Police area.

"However, there must be some element of increased racism too because the figures have shot up so much - the difference is so great that we cannot ignore that increased racism may be a factor."

Campaigner's anger

Anti-racism campaigner Aamer Anwar said: "Recording statistics on their own has no value when what we see on the ground is the failure to prosecute and jail racists.

"In the last two years we've seen highly-publicised murders and attacks take place where the police have automatically dismissed racial motivation even when the victim has said so.

"I don't find it a surprise that this PR exercise is announced when the police in Glasgow are being asked to justify an abusive stop and search policy in areas where there are young Asians."