Hate crime

Hate crime can be motivated by ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual identity and other motives. This section gives advice on how and where to report this offence.

A hate crime is an offence that is motivated because of a perceived difference between the perpetrator and the victim. That motivation can arise through a difference in:

  • race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins
  • religion or belief
  • transgender identity
  • sexual orientation
  • physical or mental disability.

A hate incident is an incident that is motivated by the same protected characteristics as a Hate Crime, however a criminal offence has not taken place. An example is verbal abuse such as name calling.

Hate Incidents are just as important as a Hate Crime and it gives the Council and Police the early intervention to tackle the incident from potentially escalating to a Hate Crime.

Our priorities in tackling Hate are as follows:

  1. Increase victim safety.
  2. Reduce repeat victimisation.
  3. Identify and target offenders and then ensure that they are held accountable for their behaviour.
  4. Reduce tolerance of hate crime and undermine any social acceptability of it.
  5. Educate and support children and young people in building relationships based on respect and mutual understanding.
  6. Establish effective hate crime reporting systems.

Reporting Hate

If you’ve experienced a hate incident or crime, we strongly encourage that you report it to the police.

You can also report a hate incident or crime even if it wasn’t directed at you. For example, you could be a friend, neighbour, family member, support worker or simply a passer-by.

Once reported to the Police your case will then be referred to the Police Community Safety Unit.

The Metropolitan Police Croydon can be contacted on: 0300 123 1212.

If you do not want to report to Police, please visit True Vision. True Vision is a website designed to provide you with information about hate crime and how to report.

On the TrueVision website, you can:

  • find out what hate crimes or hate incidents are
  • find out about the ways you can report them
  • report using the online form
  • find information about people that can help and support you if you have been a victim.

Reporting makes a difference - to you, your friends, and your community. By reporting hate crime when it happens, you can help stop it happening to someone else. You will also help the police to better understand the level of hate crime in your local area, and improve the way they respond to it.

Reporting online hate crime

The internet can bring out people's worst characteristics. Anonymity allows people to express some extremely unpleasant views. If you come across hateful or offensive content on the internet, the link below enables you to track down the hosting company of the offending site.

You could then contact the host's website administrator and seek removal of the offending material citing non-compliance with their standards.

View the 'web hosting lookup tool' for more information.

Anti-hate crime pledge

Sign our anti-hate crime pledge

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