A hate crime is behaviour that someone thinks was caused by hostility, prejudice or hatred of:
- Disability (including physical impairments, mental health problems, learning disabilities, hearing and visual impairment)
- Gender identity (people who are transgender, transsexual or transvestite)
- Race, skin colour, nationality, ethnicity or heritage
- Age
- Religion, faith or belief (including people without a religious belief)
- Sexual orientation (people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual)
This can include:
- Physical attacks - such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti, neighbour disputes and arson
- Threat of attack – including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls or text messages, groups hanging around to intimidate and unfounded, malicious complaints
- Verbal abuse or insults – offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, offensive comments and/or name calling, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes and bullying at school or in the workplace
Report it
If you have witnessed or been the victim of a hate incident then please report it.
All incidents are taken very seriously and treated in the strictest confidence.
To report to the police:
To report it to us
If you report hate crime to us we will aim to acknowledge within 5 working days and reply to you with ways we think we can help within 20 working days.