Police were called to investigate almost twice as many race attacks in Mid Sussex this year than last.

The number of incidents reported in Forest Division, which covers Horsham and Crawley, went up from 70 to 122.

But officers say the new figures do not point to a surge in violence.

They say people feel more confident about reporting crimes because of the growing links between police and ethnic communities.

Inspector Martin Walker, manager of the force's anti-victimisation unit, said: "The gap between the number of incidents occurring and the number being reported is getting smaller.

"People have more confidence and this helps in a number of ways. It identifies where crime is taking place and helps us to identify those people who are repeat victims."

Mr Walker said staff had been trained to identify and deal with racist incidents and were attending more racist incidents than in the past.

Police were now reviewing every racially-aggravated offence to make sure the victim was getting the right help and the case was investigated properly.

Mr Walker said they had seen a month-on-month increase in the number of racially aggravated offences detected up from 35 per cent in November last year to 50 per cent last month.