Hate Crime

Hatred is a strong term that goes beyond simply causing offence or hostility. Hate crime is any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by an offender's hatred of someone because of their:

• disability
• race
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• transgender.

Hate crime can take many forms including:

• 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, groups hanging around to intimidate and unfounded, malicious complaints
• verbal abuse or insults - offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace.

What Can The Police Do?

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 West Mercia Police.

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 know that reporting such crimes can be difficult, however, and that's why are one of a growing number of police forces signed up to the national True Vision campaign.

What Is True Vision?

The True Vision project is a national campaign funded by the police to raise public awareness of hate crime. True Vision packs provide information, advice and guidance for victims and witnesses of hate crime.  There are three different types of pack available for:

• Race and religion
• Disability
• Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and trans

These packs also contain a reporting form which can be used to tell the police about incidents of hate crime safely and confidentially.

Contact Us For help

If you believe you have been a victim of hate crime you can also report it to us by phoning 0300 333 3000 or visiting your local police station where True Vision packs are available. We  have specialist officers in each division who will sensitively investigate any incident you report. In an emergency you should always ring 999.