WE like to think of North Yorkshire as a civilised corner of the world, untroubled by ugly racism. Such a comfy delusion is shattered by Keith Hardy's story today. He was hounded out of his home city, citing racist harassment by the police. Every York resident should feel deeply concerned at his treatment.

What makes Mr Hardy's experience even more disturbing is the reaction of a North Yorkshire Police spokesman. The force seems to be in state of denial.

Mr Hardy's mother Marta was prompted to contact the Evening Press after we carried a report last Friday revealing that ethnic minorities were nearly four times as likely to be stopped and searched by county police as white people.

It was not the figure itself, troubling though this is, that incensed Mrs Hardy. It was the breathtakingly dismissive comments by force spokesman Tony Lidgate. He said he did not think the statistics on stop-and-search showed "anything deeply meaningful".

People were "stopped and searched for the simple and excellent reason that we have a good reason for doing so," he said. This smug and arrogant response prompted the Hardy family to come forward with their disturbing tale.

York police rightly point out that Mr Hardy's experiences happened two years ago, were investigated and led to a change in procedure. But there is still a long way to go to alter police attitudes towards ethnic minorities. The North Yorkshire Police Authority's figures showing the imbalance between searches of black and white people referred to incidents between April and September last year.

Most police officers are not racist and they will be as appalled at Mr Hardy's treatment as we are. Yet a culture of racism remains. There can be no doubt that our small, and therefore highly visible, ethnic population is disproportionately targeted; often without "good reason", Mr Lidgate.