Commissioner urges people to report hate crime

Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner is urging victims of ‘hate crime’ to come forward and report it to the police.

Hate crime is any incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate in connection with race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or faith, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.

Sir Graham Bright said: “Discrimination should have no place in today’s society and offences that are motivated by prejudice are taken very seriously by the police here in Cambridgeshire.

“The police are here to serve everybody. I want victims and witnesses of any crime to have the courage to come forward and report it. But hate crime is harder to quantify. People are often particularly reluctant to come forward, making it difficult for the police tackle.

“It is everybody’s responsibility to look out for each other and inform the police of anything they see or hear that constitutes a criminal offence, including those offences based purely on prejudice. Our communities are our eyes and ears.”

Sir Graham’s Outreach Worker, Nicola Fenton, has also taken to schools to raise awareness of the issue among young people through her Personal Social Health and Economic Education sessions at schools in Peterborough.

Nicola has been asking young people for their opinions on how best the Constabulary can go about raising awareness of the issue. She said: “Most people are aware of racism and homophobia, however when it’s termed a hate crime people aren’t too sure, and most don’t realise that it can include disability or your religion. That’s why it’s vital to raise awareness so people can identify when they or someone they know have been a victim of a hate crime.

“The students are coming up with some great suggestions as to how we can really raise awareness of it to young people.”

Cambridgeshire Constabulary and its partners are fully committed to the Government’s action plan ‘Challenge it, report it, stop it’. To find out more about hate crime and how to report it click here