Police 'deal with 60 protests a month'

Police commissioner Alison Hernandez said she would take intelligence from councillors over gatherings that cause problems

Devon and Cornwall Police deal with about 60 protests a month as a result of community unrest, a police and crime panel has been told.

Police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez said many of the protests were small but police undertook "significant tactical planning and engagement with community leaders" ahead of the larger demonstrations.

The panel meeting on Friday also heard hate crime had risen in both counties for the second year running, with a total of 2,354 crimes recorded from August 2024 to August 2025.

Racial related hate crime saw an increase of 9.4% or 114 crimes over that period, it was also told.

'Ease community tensions'

Some panel members from Plymouth called for greater engagement with city ward councillors who often had a great deal of knowledge about their areas.

Ms Hernandez said she was not sure every protest required the same amount of management by the police, and added "otherwise that might be all they are doing, but I am happy to take intelligence from councillors", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The crime commissioner - who holds the chief constable to account but whose job will be phased out at the end of the post's current term - said people who recorded hate crime would be taken seriously, and incidents were recorded even if they were not a crime yet.

"When there are national conversations about particularly contentious issues, there tends to be a spike in hate crime, which is why our words really do matter – our job locally is to help ease community tensions," she said.

She added: "It's an early indication of what is happening in our communities, it's an early warning sign."

Councillor Joe Hodgetts said the police spent time discussing the barriers people face when reporting hate crime, but not coming up with solutions.

"Maybe it's time to really drill down into what those barriers are," he said.

Ms Hernandez said that it was a good point and she would go away and think about it.