Hate Crime

cover of hate crime leaflet which shows simple drawings of men and women People can become victims of crime for lots of different reasons. When a person is targeted because of hostility or prejudice towards who they are or a characteristic they have we call this a hate crime.

A hate incident is the same as a hate crime, although what has happened is not always a criminal offence. Hate incidents may happen once, or several times over a longer period. Gwent Police always take hate crimes and incidents seriously.

You may be a victim of hate crime because you are:

Disabled
Religious (or not)
Lesbian, gay or bisexual (or not)
From a different country, of a different ethnic origin, or have a different skin colour
Transgender

Hate incidents and crimes can include:

Physical attacks
Written or verbal insults e.g. abusive phone calls, offensive letters, comments on social networking sites
Vandalism
Graffiti
Threatening behaviour

There is a range of ways that you can report a hate incident or crime:

Visit your local police station
Call 101 in a non emergency
Call 999 in an emergency

If you don't feel ready to speak to the police you can contact:

Safer Wales at www.saferwales.com
True Vision at www.report-it.org.uk
Victim Support on 0845 612 1900
Third Party Reporting Centres *

* Gwent Police, in partnership with local People First groups, has established over 20 'Talk About It' third party reporting centres for people with learning disabilities to report hate crime. A learning disability hate incident or crime is anything that happens which you is motivated by someone's hostility towards a person's learning disability. All of the centre staff have received training around hate crime, and have accessible forms that can be completed with the support of a member of staff. It is then the person's choice whether they would like the report to go to the police (although if there is a high risk of harm, it may mean the police have to be informed). Reports can be made by the person themselves or by a friend, family member, or anyone else that has witnessed the incident. Please note that making a third party report does not replace contacting the police in the normal manner wherever possible (101 or 999) and should not be used in an emergency situation.

Safer Newport also has Report Hate Crime forms available at all Newport City Council reception areas. The form is available in English, Welsh, Urdu, Somali, French, Chinese and other formats including Braille, Large Print etc.
The forms can also be downloaded here.

English/Welsh	English/Urdu	English/Somali
English/French	English/Chinese	English/Arabic

Once completed the forms can be posted to:
SEWREC (South East Wales Race Equality Council),
137 Commercial Street, Newport, NP20 1LN