"That's really naive. People are concerned with hate crimes. People are not comfortable with the idea of minorities being physically assaulted by bigots. "
Nonsense, just becaue you probably live in a trendy area of London that does not make it the centre of the Universe. MOST people do not care, unless it comes to physical violence in which case it is covered by the type of Policing many are talking about.
"It's obvious there aren't enough police on the beat now ymb, you never see them."
Police on the beat have a very limited ability to aprehend todays criminals, in particular those on mopeds. Police are about, generally in cars so they can give chase so unless you happen to look in their direction for the 30 secs or less they pass you then you wont see them. The problem then comes of course in that they are not "allowed" to persue criminals in vehicles if it becomes dangerous for the criminal (remove helmet etc).