Hate Crime

What is a Hate Crime? 

A Hate Crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on the following:

  • a person’s race or perceived race, or any racial group or ethnic background including countries within the UK and Gypsy and Traveller groups;
  • a person’s religion or perceived religion, or any religious group including those who have no faith in a theology.
  • a person’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; any person's sexual orientation.
  • a person’s disability or perceived disability, including physical disability, learning disability and mental health or developmental disorders; and
  • a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender, including people who are transsexual, transgender and cross dressers and those who hold a Gender Recognition Certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004

While a crime may be recorded and flagged as a ‘hate crime’, it may only be prosecuted as such if evidence of hostility is submitted as part of the case file.

What is a non-crime Hate Incident?

Where it is established that a criminal offence has not taken place, but the victim or any other person perceives that the incident was motivated wholly or partially by hostility, based on a monitored strand or protected characteristic police can record a non-crime hate incident.

Police must ensure that, where non-crime incidents are being recorded and dealt with, this is done by the least intrusive method, and achieves a legitimate policing purpose.  To achieve the least intrusive method, officers and staff must apply proportionality, common sense and discretion when deciding when to record a hate incident, based on the available facts.

Recording non-crime hate incidents provides the police with a tool to build intelligence about patterns of behaviour and emerging tensions before they escalate into serious harm. This data is vital for helping the police to build community confidence and to understand better where to work in partnership and target resources. 

The six monitored strands for non-crime hate incidents by Devon and Cornwall Police are sex or gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief, and gender identity. 

Examples of hate crimes and non-crime hate incidents include:

  • Verbal abuse, insults or harassment, such as taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace.
  • Physical attacks, such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson;
  • Threat of attack, such as offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate, and unfounded malicious complaints;

Police officers should identify potentially ‘susceptible’ communities and proactively make efforts to build relationships with those communities and relevant partners. These relationships will provide a structure and network, which can be used when tensions rise, an investigation occurs or a critical incident is identified. Effective community engagement can help to mitigate community tension caused by hate crimes or non-crime hate incidents. Conversely, failing to engage will undermine community confidence in law enforcement and make positive policing outcomes more difficult to achieve.

Very Brief Intervention

Ask

When responding to victims of hate crime you should consider how your language and conduct may affect victims and witnesses.

In particular you should:

  • Ask the victim or witness how they wish to be addressed − do not assume gender identity.
  • Gather information sensitively and provide reassurance, recording an accurate first account.
  • Assess the initial risk and response required.

At all stages of an investigation, police officers must be aware of potential risks to the safety, vulnerability and wellbeing of victims and witnesses. An important risk is the potential for further victimisation. Victims may be targeted either because they are perceived to be less likely to have the confidence to defend themselves physically or because they lack the confidence or ability to stand up to the offender.

Risk factors may include:

  • The victim’s isolation, eg, they have limited support or live alone.
  • They have particular personal characteristics which may increase their vulnerability.
  • There are particular issues that leave them susceptible to intimidation.

The following questions may help to elicit some of the information needed for effective risk assessment and management:

Do you want to speak in private? (Be aware of potential confidentiality issues e.g. not disclosing the victim’s sexuality)

Why do you think you have been targeted on this occasion? (Without sounding like the victim is being blamed)

Have you or your family been targeted before?

Do you know of similar crimes in the area?

Do you fear that the offender will repeat the behaviour?

Do you know the offender?

What impact has the behaviour had on you and your family?

Other action to take:

  • Remove the victim to a safe location if appropriate – in some cases it may be more appropriate to address the risk through suspect interventions, eg, arrest or bail conditions.
  • Do they need an interpreter?
  • Use body-worn video to gather an initial account which may support enhanced sentencing.
  • Make a record of the victim’s emotional response to the incident, eg, is the victim suffering from shock? Refer to support services if you think this would help.
  • Identify any victim needs and arrange for these to be put in place where practical.
  • What reasonable lines of inquiry should be pursued; and what evidence might need to be immediately secured.
  • Do relevant checks to see whether the victim is a repeat victim.
  • If necessary, seek advice from a specialist hate crime investigator where available.
  • Notify neighbourhood policing teams and provide a copy of the crime report to support victim and community reassurance.
  • For more serious incidents, consider deploying a family liaison officer.
  • Review risk assessment, as the victim may be more forthcoming once they have confidence in the attending officer.

Assist

What you can do to help depends on the particular circumstances and needs of the individual. Is this a criminal act? Do they need immediate medical attention? Would they benefit from referral to services that support victims of Hate Crime/Incidents.

Please click on the below regional links for information about Hate Crime/Incident support services relating to your locality.

Act

CrimeStoppers

CrimeStoppers is an independent charity that provides advice on how to protect people from crime and offers a completely anonymous crime reporting service 365 days a year. If you know someone who may be violent or abusive to someone because of their disability, race, religion, transgender identity or sexual orientation you can contact CrimeStoppers to report it anonymously. Due to their anonymity guarantee, they can't take information from victims of hate crime. In an emergency, always call 999. If you are a victim of hate crime, call the police or contact Victim Support. 

Telephone: 0800 555 111 

Online Form: anonymous online form

Website: Hate crime | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org)

True Vision

True Vision is a police-funded website designed to providing information about Hate Crime. The website has a range of downloadable tools (based on practice developed across policing) that can assist in developing partnerships. These products include guidance on how non-statutory groups can be engaged to establish effective partnerships.

Individuals can report incidents here which will be forwarded to the local police and will be recorded. As long as they do not report anonymously, an officer will contact them back.

Website: https://www.met.police.uk/tv/true-vision-report-hate-crime/

Victim support

Experiencing hate crime can be a particularly frightening experience the attack is very personal and specifically targeted. Hate incidents can feel like crimes to people who suffer them and often escalate to crimes or tension in a community. You can report such incidents, but the police can only prosecute when the law is broken. However, the police can work with other organisations to prevent the situation escalating.

Victim support want to help support you to recover from hate crime and hate incidents;

Telephone: 0300 303 0554 Mon-Fri 12pm-6pm 

Out of hours support line: 0808 1689 111 (available 365 Days a Year)

Website: Hate crime - Victim Support 

Equality Advisory Support Service

The EASS has a helpline to give information and guidance on discrimination and human rights issues. The service is free and fully accessible by phone, email and video link for those who wish use British Sign Language. The service provides access to advocacy services for those with mental ill health and people with a learning disability.

Telephone: 0808 800 0082 Freephone - Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm

Website: http://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com 

Tell Mama

A national project supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate and monitoring anti-Muslim incidents. Reports can be made via; Telephone, Email, SMS, Facebook or Twitter. A trained case worker will take the issue further with individuals who connect with the service and ensure they have details to record the incident and offer them support. 

Telephone: 0800 456 1226

Website: https://tellmamauk.org/

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Support

An organisation planning to end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and to protect the right to pursue a nomadic way of life. They support and provide advice to individuals and families with the issues that matter most to them.

Telephone: 01273 234 777 Open Mon-Fri, 10am-4:30pm excluding Bank Holidays

Website: https://www.gypsy-traveller.org/

Galop

A national charity supporting LGBT+ people who are victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, hate crime, so-called conversion therapies, honour-based abuse, forced marriage, and other forms of abuse. A person can refer themselves into this services, or be referred by someone else.

Telephone:  0800 999 5428 (Mon-Thurs 10am-8:30pm, Fri 10am-4:30pm)

Website: https://galop.org.uk/

The Beaumont Society

The Beaumont Society operates a national information line providing help and support for the transgender community. This information line contains the telephone numbers of all the societies regional organisers who are available to speak to for advice.

Telephone: 01582 412220 24/7, 365 days a year

Website: https://www.beaumontsociety.org.uk/contact.html

Mermaids

Mermaids supports transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and young people up to their 20th birthday, as well as their families and professionals involved in their care. They also offer web chat support to students up to the age of 25. Calls to Mermaids are confidential and any details recorded will not be shared with a third party.

Telephone: 0808 801 0400 - Open Monday-Fri 9am-9pm

Website: https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/contact-us/

Respond

A national support service for people with learning difficulties who are either victims or perpetrators of sexual abuse and other trauma, and for their carers. Issues covered include bereavement, abuse, bullying, relationship and sexuality issues.

Telephone: 020 7383 0700

Website: www.respond.org.uk

ARC Safety Net Resources - Disability

A link to a range of national resources related to hate crime and disability. All resources are free to download and use.

Website: https://arcuk.org.uk/safetynet/safety-net-resources/

Local Support and Contact Details