Anti-hate campaign
is crime against
Boston's image

We mentioned yesterday that the current obsession with Boston’s past history of flooding can work against the town by highlighting problems that no longer exist.
Why the borough has such a death wish is beyond us – but it now seems to be doing it again.
A few days ago a press release highlighted the fact that Boston’s crime figures last month show the county’s greatest percentage decrease.
Good news at last.
We commented at the time that when studied closely, crime in the borough was not really that much to worry about, but still felt comfortable that at last Boston was getting a reputation for something encouraging for a change.
But now – under the headline “Murdered because she was ‘different’” – the borough is promoting a visit by the mother of a Lancashire girl who was killed “because she was a Goth” to talk about hate crime.
She will address a “Learning from Experience” session at Boston Borough Council next Tuesday - coinciding with Hate Crime week – and there will be other sessions during the week – including one to launch the Boston Community Showcase the following day – so doubtless we will be hearing about hate crime right the way through until the group’s annual knees up in Central Park in September.
Specially-invited audiences will include representatives from agencies, public voluntary groups, students, and councillors, members of the public and other relevant professionals.
East Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership has raised as a “priority” for this year a campaign to raise awareness of hate crime
Boston’s principal community safety officer Peter Hunn, says the Tuesday session will include an overview of the newly-launched Hate Crime Strategy for Lincolnshire.
He added: “I am sure that this session will not only be informative but will also be very emotive. We really do need to get as many staff as possible on this session, in particular front-line members of staff.”
The way all this is presented paints a picture of Boston as the new hate crime capital possibly not just of Lincolnshire but of a much wider area.
People attending these sessions are going to have the fear of God put into them and most likely will see hate crime around every corner – most probably where none exists.
Just how bad is hate crime in Lincolnshire?
The figures below are for 2009 – the last available year of publication – produced by ACPO … the Association of Chief Police Officers. Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

A total of 298 just hate crimes across a county with a population of around 600,000 – a fraction of one per-cent. How significant it is in Boston is unknown.
Yes, hate crime is a very bad thing.
But why, once again, has Boston chosen to make such a fuss about something that is not really such a big issue.
It will get lots of publicity – but for all the wrong reasons – and yet again, will give the borough a bad name which it doesn’t deserve .

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