THE Borders has seen a small reduction in the number of hate crimes.

Latest figures show there has been six less reports when compared with this time last year(April-September), with the current total standing at 47.

Race related hate crime continues to be the most frequent recorded and between April to September there was 19 reports, with two repeat victims.

Chief Inspector Andy McLean of Police Scotland said: "These figures are very low indeed and some of the offences of 'white Europeans' were actually on police officers.

"Yes, we do have hate crime in the Borders, but compared to other areas we are quite fortunate.

"You can look at these numbers two ways. It is low, but we want to continue to increase the confidence in reporting this type of crime."

The latest figures also show that out of the 19 reported race hate crimes, seven of the victims were of Polish origin.

And there has been one report of homophobic hate crime this quarter as well as one report of transgender hate crime.