Hate Crime
Just Because You’re Different….
Hate crime comes in many different forms. It’s an offence committed against someone or their property because of their gender, sexuality, race, religion or disability. It includes verbal abuse as well as physical damage.
Safeguarding the most vulnerable members of our communities lies at the heart of all members of Safer Shropshire Partnership. Unless you have been a victim of hate crime it is difficult to appreciate the distress it causes. It can destroy an individual’s life, ruin families and damage communities. It is a serious and unacceptable crime and tackling it is a priority for all of us.
Investigation of hate crime is led by specially trained officers from the force’s Public Protection Unit who are based locally and are committed to working with individuals, partners and communities to develop long term local solutions to local problems.
The service we provide starts when the initial call is received and all of our staff are expected to handle incidents sensitively and provide the right level of care. Front line officers and staff are often the key to the successful investigation, detection and prevention of hate crime offences.
We Won’t Tolerate It Campaign
Working with the Safer Shropshire Partnership, in November 2006 the force launched the “We Wont Tolerate It” campaign. The initiative enables victims of hate crime to report incidents at a wide range of safe locations around the county.
These include council offices, libraries, sports and entertainment centres, Citizen Advice Bureaux and Victim Support Shropshire. The initiative was designed to complement the national True Vision reporting scheme. Over 150 members of staff working at these locations have been trained to recognise hate crime, record victim details and deal with the report, as the victim requires. The initiative has already identified victims of hate crime who would otherwise have been missed.
Information recorded through the campaign identifies hotspots and offending groups and has been used to direct resources to deal with the most immediate serious problems.
New - report a hate crime online
If you have witnessed, or been the victim of, a hate crime, you can now report it online using our online form.
Simply follow the link to the hate crime reporting page.
Or you can report it to the police by phoning 08457 444 888 or visiting a police station. The force has specialist officers in each division who will sensitively investigate any incident reported to us. In an emergency you should always ring 999.
For further information, visit the True Vision website at www.report-it.org.uk
