THE number of racist incidents in the Kidderminster division has risen by a massive 72 per cent, new police figures have revealed.

Reported incidents rose from 43 last year to 74 in 2000/2001.

But Chief Supt Ron Whitfield claimed the dramatic increase proved measures aimed at encouraging people to come forward and report such matters had been successful.

He said: "Initiatives have been introduced to encourage the reporting of all hate crime. This includes a new self-reporting form for racial incidents which has been extensively distributed throughout the division."

He said the form had been made freely available in places such as post offices, schools, doctor's surgeries and community buildings and allowed a person to make an official complaint while remaining anonymous if they wished to.

In addition, he said Kidderminster Police had been working in partnership with various organisations to set up new victim support groups for those who suffered racial crime.

He added: "Kidderminster division has been actively working among the community to reassure people the police will deal with them sensitively and professionally.

"These figures are a positive indication our efforts are being effective."

Mr Whitfield said it was anticipated the increased number of incidents reported would peak by the end of the year and level off in the early months of next year.

He added the number of detections had increased by 64 per cent since last year.

The new figures compare with a near doubling in the number of racist incidents in the whole of the West Mercia force area over the last 12 months.

In all, 871 incidents were reported in the 12 months to April this year, compared with 464 in the previous 12 months. Of these, 793 received further investigation.

West Mercia's chief constable Peter Hampton said: "This area is of particular concern to our ethnic minority community and is one on which we will continue to focus."

But he claimed the increase in the number of reported incidents reflected "increased public confidence in our response".

He added the force's detection rate of 30 per cent for racially aggravated crime was three per cent higher than for all other categories of crime.