Plymouth residents urged to report hate crime incidents

Residents in Plymouth are being urged to report hate crimes as part of Hate Crime Awareness Week (11th-18th October 2014).

Hate crimes are any crimes that are targeted at a person because of hostility or prejudice towards that person’s disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or transgender identity.

A number of events are taking place in Plymouth throughout the week and Plymouth City Council is also taking the opportunity to remind people of the ways in which hate crime can be reported.

Councillor Pete Smith, Deputy Leader of Plymouth City Council said: “Hate Crime Awareness Week is an opportunity for us to remind people of what a hate crime is and how it can be reported.

“We are committed to eliminating discrimination from all aspects of our work and to ensuring we contribute to making Plymouth a safer place for our diverse communities.

“As part of Plymouth’s ambition to be a welcoming city we aim to be as inclusive as possible and we actively encourage people to report any hate crime incidents.”

Since April 2014, there have been 215 hate crime incidents reported to Plymouth City Council’s Social Inclusion Unit, with a 90% satisfaction rate. Between April 2013 and March 2014 Plymouth had 603 reported hate crime incidents.

Events taking place to mark Hate Crime Awareness Week include:

Wednesday 15th October, 1pm to 3pm at Plymouth Highbury Community Support Centre, Outland Road, Plymouth. Plymouth People First, a self-advocacy charity for adults with a learning disability, is hosting an even with Devon & Cornwall Police’s Diverse Communities Team on the issue of ‘hate and mate’ crime. There will be training both for adults with learning disabilities and police officers firefighters.

Wednesday 15th October, 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Plymouth Arts Centre – Pride in Plymouth are holding an informal social event. Come along and talk about your experiences of hate crime in the city, or suggest how some of the barriers that prevent people from reporting can be removed.

Saturday 18th October 7pm at the sundial in the city centre- Plymouth’s annual candle lit vigil against hate crime

Hate incidents can include:

Any incident which may or may not constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate.

Anyone can perceive an incident to be motivated by hate, regardless of their connection with that particular incident

Any hate incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate.
Ways to report hate crime:

There are a number of ways you can report hate crime, either by calling police on 999 or 101, reporting at the police station, or calling Plymouth City Council on 01752 304321.

For more details on how to report hate crimes in Plymouth, go to http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/communityandliving/socialinclusion/h...

Further details on Hate Crime Awareness Week are at the following links:

http://www.stophateuk.org/2014/09/15/stop-hate-uk-are-proud-to-support-n...

http://www.internationalhatestudies.com/events/national-hate-crime-aware...