Hate Crime

What is a Hate Crime?

What are Hate Crimes and Hate Incidents?

Hate Motivation

Hate crimes and hate incidents are taken to mean any crime or incident where the perpetrator’s hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised. (ACPO, 2000:13)

Hate crime or incident

 A Hate crime or Incident is any crime or incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s actual or perceived social group or groups.

For the purpose of the strategy the hate crime strands we will be focusing are monitored Hate Crimes / Incidents:

• Disability
• Race
• Religion and Belief
• Sexual orientation
• Transgender

However it is worth noting that Malice or ill will towards a social group can be based on any identifying factor including the above groups but not exclusively. Some people may experience hate crimes and incidents because of more than one identifying factor, for example, because of a combination of more than one identifying factor like their race and disability.

It is important to note that some hate incidents may not constitute a criminal offence and therefore will not be recorded as a hate crime, whereas all hate crimes are hate incidents.

Hate Crimes and Incidents can take many forms including:

• Physical attacks
• Threats
• Verbal abuse
• Murder
• Neighbour disputes
• Arson
• Graffiti
• Intimidation or harassment
• Bullying at school, college or work
• Harassment by phone, text, email or through the internet (Cyber Bullying)

 This list is not exhaustive

Reporting Hate Crime

Why report a hate crime?

Hate crime is a violation of personal and civil rights. Effective action against hate incidents requires that these crimes be reported, to the police, council and all other appropriate agencies.

Only if hate crime is reported can we, together, take action to deal with it. No one has the right to harass, threaten or assault anyone because of who they are.

Who can report hate crime?

Anyone can report hate crime including:

• Residents
• Visitors to Lincolnshire
• Private tenants
• Local businesses
• Community and faith groups

Any kind of evidence can help the police in the process of investigation. In particular, it can help an investigation if you are able to provide:

• A description of the perpetrator(s)
• Details of any witnesses to the incident
• A diary record of any ongoing incidents and previous incidents you have experienced
• Original copies of any hate mail that has been sent to you
• Evidence of damage to property, graffiti etc. It is advisable not to clear these up before reporting the incident if possible.

If you don’t have any evidence, we still encourage you to report hate crime.

How to report a hate crime

If there is an emergency call the Police on 999 – particularly if an incident is still happening or has just happened.

Callers have the option of reporting an incident anonymously. We encourage victims to provide personal details, which will help us to investigate the incident more thoroughly.

Telephone

In an emergency always dial 999.

For all non-emergency calls contact us on 101

Stop Hate UK

• On the Phone: 0800 138 1625
• With Text Relay, for the deaf and hearing / speech impaired callers: 18001 0800 138 1625
• In a Text: 07717 989 025
• In an email: talk@stophateuk.org
• Chat on the web: www.stophateuk.org/talk
• With a form: www.stopjateuk.org/tell
• In the post: Stop Hate UK, PO Box 484, Leeds LS7 9BZ
• In person at a third party reporting centre in Lincolnshire.

Find out what happens after a call is received on the Stop Hate Line.

Support and Advice

Those affected by Hate Crime can also report Hate Crimes and Incidents and access support and advice through Stop Hate UK.

Phone: 0800 138 1625
Phone (Text Relay): 18001 0800 138 1625
Text: 07717 989 025
Email: talk@stophateuk.org
Web chat: www.stophateuk.org/talk
Online form: www.stophateuk.org/tell

Useful Contacts

Just Lincolnshire
Office: 01522 836159 / Mobile 07824 383899
Fax:  01522 516079
Email: sue.ellis@just.lincolnshire.gov.uk
Website: www.JustLincolnshire.org.uk

Victim Support
16 Melville Street
Lincoln
LN5 7BW

Phone: 0300 303 1947
Website: www.victimsupport.org.uk

GIRES – Gender Identity Research and Education Society

GIRES Transphobic crime reporting service

http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/tcrime/tcrime.php

Third Party Reporting

Third Party reporting Centre or Service

Third Party reporting aims to encourage people to report hate incidents and crimes to organisations other than the police. There are various reasons that prevent people from reporting crimes and incidents directly to the police. The decision may be based on perceptions and expectations, or other factors such as the accessibility or distance to a police station.

In Lincolnshire, a number of organisations have also agreed to support Lincolnshire’s Hate Crime Strategy by acting as third party reporting centres / sites. Trained individuals in these organisations will deal with reports of incidents and will then pass information on to stop hate UK on behalf of a victim or witness in a supportive and reassuring manner  .

In some cases they can also provide support or advice and potentially act as a link between victims and police. It is hoped this will encourage even more victims and witnesses to come forward.

The organisations listed below will be able to assist you to complete a Hate Incident report. More organisations will be added shortly as individuals receive training to deal with third party reports.

The benefits of Third Party reporting are

• Victims will gain confidence and be encouraged to report crime.
• Agencies can identify appropriate support organisations to best help victims.
• Draws a more accurate picture of Hate Crime, thus enabling police and other partners to respond more effectively through intelligence-led pro-active targeting.
• The safety and well being of the victim will always be our first priority and only specially trained officers will investigate these crimes.

Third Party reporting sites in Lincolnshire Include

Language Resources for Reporting Centres

• Reporting Centre Resource - Arabic.pdf (size 115.1 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - French.pdf (size 17.8 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Chinese.pdf (size 30 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Czech.pdf (size 49.9 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Lithuanian.pdf (size 28.1 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Polish.pdf (size 53.8 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Portuguese.pdf (size 17.8 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Romanian.pdf (size 50.6 KB)
• Reporting Centre Resource - Russian.pdf (size 59.4 KB)

Who Can Report Hate Crime?

Anyone can report hate crime including:

• Residents
• Visitors to Lincolnshire
• Private tenants
• Local businesses
• Community and faith groups

Any kind of evidence can help the police in the process of investigation. In particular, it can help an investigation if you are able to provide:

• A description of the perpetrator(s)
• Details of any witnesses to the incident
• A diary record of any ongoing incidents and previous incidents you have experienced
• Original copies of any hate mail that has been sent to you
• Evidence of damage to property, graffiti etc. It is advisable not to clear these up before reporting the incident if possible.

If you don’t have any evidence, we still encourage you to report hate crime.