A poster from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)’s Combating Hate Crime campaign. Since 2000, Northern Ireland has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of reports of race-related hate crimes. During the year 1998-99 there were 93 racially motivated incidents reported, by 2009-10 the number had increased to 1,038. In response, the PSNI Combating Hate Campaign was established to increase awareness and encourage the reporting of hate crime. The campaign targeted five main areas of hate crime; racism, homophobia, sectarianism, religion and crimes against people with disabilities. The advertisements appeared on billboards and buses in areas of high reporting: Belfast, Craigavon, Ballymena, Dungannon, Lisburn, Coleraine, Magherafelt and Foyle.

In 2014, Operation Reiner was created after another significant rise in racist hate crimes in Northern Ireland. The operation established a dedicated team of officers to investigate race hate crimes and to provide support for the victims. A dedicated phone line (101, option 2) with a function to translate calls into 50 languages was set up to facilitate the reporting of racist incidents. The Operation Reiner team worked in partnership with local voluntary groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and national consuls to bring support and advice to vulnerable groups. All PSNI officers receive diversity training and guides regarding different ethnic minorities and public information is published in a range of languages to suit the ethnic mix of the local community.