LONDON, England - December 24, 2009 - The attempts by the CPS to search out opportunities to prosecute people for hate crimes “are more compatible with the attitude of a profit-maximizing business than a public service”, says Keir Starmer, head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Ministers have drawn up plans to encourage people to lodge complaints about hate crimes, which they say are being under-reported.

Police have set up special units to investigate allegations, while the Crown Prosecution Service has established “scrutiny panels” to look through previous cases to improve on their hit-rate in failed prosecutions.

Since Labour came to power, ministers have increased categories of “hate” crimes from simply covering racism to include religious aggravation, homophobia and “transphobic” offenses.

The result has been a seven-fold increase in prosecutions for hate crimes over the past decade, from 1,602 crimes in 1998/9 to 11,624 in 2008/9.

However, campaigners are now accusing ministers of intensifying their pursuit of hate crime offenders and of allowing prosecutors to go "fishing" for offenses, opening them up to accusations of sometimes criminalizing apparently innocent remarks and comments.