GYPSIES, Travellers and Roma are being urged to report hate crime amid concerns they are not telling police when they suffer abuse.
Figures have shown a surge in offences against other communities in the wake of the EU referendum in June, but campaigners claim a rise in attacks against GTR has gone undocumented.
Police constable Jim Davies from the Gypsy Roma Traveller Police Association said a lack of trust would stop them "rushing to the police".
He said: "As far as Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are concerned the criminal justice system is not an ethnically neutral one.
"It has for far too long functioned on the basis that Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are criminal groups rather than ethnic groups.
"Being well aware of the biases held against them, having experienced years of negative interactions with authority figures, not just police, but extending to schools, politicians and even the courts, there should be no surprise in the lack of legitimacy with which many Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people regard the authorities.
"Until this legitimacy and trust is built, it is unlikely Gypsies Roma and Travellers will be rushing to the police and associated services asking for help with issues of hate and discrimination, regardless of how badly they may need that help."
Campaign group the Traveller Movement, backed by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), has launched #OperationReportHate to encourage reporting.
The NPCC plans to launch a dedicated page for GTR on its hate crime reporting website True Vision.
More than 6,000 alleged hate crimes and incidents were reported around the time of the referendum to police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the four weeks from the middle of June.
There was a slight fall after an initial spike, but the volume of reports was still around a third higher than the equivalent period in 2015.
Data obtained by the Press Association also revealed that suspected race hate crimes on Britain's railways jumped sharply after the poll.
British Transport Police recorded 119 incidents in the fortnight after the vote, including allegations of racist abuse and attacks at stations - equivalent to eight every day.
The number of alleged race hate offences logged by the force between June 24 and July 7 amounted to a 57% increase compared with the previous two weeks - and an even sharper rise of 78% on the equivalent period in 2015.
