REDCAR & Cleveland Borough Council is raising awareness of its third party reporting centres during Hate Crime Awareness Week, October 12 – 16 to encourage the reporting of hate crime incidents.
The reporting centres allow members of the public who may have been victims of, or witness to, a hate crime to report an incident, which can be passed onto Cleveland Police.
A hate crime refers to criminal acts that are seen to have been motivated by bias against a person’s disability, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion or subculture – which is targeting someone because of how they act or dress.
This can refer to incidents or crimes including damage, assault, verbal abuse and harassment.
The purpose of Hate Crime Awareness Week is to tackle hate crime issues by raising awareness of what hate crime is, how to respond to it, encourage reporting, and promote local support services and resources.
Working in partnership with the region’s Police and Crime Commissioners, the council will focus on a different type of hate crime each day on social media during the week to help build awareness. These are:
- Monday 12: disability
- Tuesday 13: religion
- Wednesday 14: sexual orientation
- Thursday 15: race
- Friday 16: transgender
Front desk staff at the council will also be undertaking refresher training on how to handle hate crime reports to ensure all matters are dealt with sensitively.
Cllr Helen McLuckie, cabinet member for neighbourhoods at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council said:
“The council takes hate crime very seriously, and I am pleased we are raising awareness of our reporting centres during Hate Crime Awareness Week to help and advise people who may initially feel hesitant in calling the police directly.
“It is important that everyone who lives in Redcar and Cleveland are made to feel safe from any abuse, assault or harassment, and that we as an authority do our very best to tackle hate crimes in our borough.”
If you would like to report a hate crime to Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, please call 01642 774 774.