Report a hate crime
What a hate crime is
A hate crime or incident is any offence perceived by the victim or any other person, whether a witness, friend or family member, as being motivated by prejudice or hate. A hate incident becomes a hate crime when the offence breaks the law.
Reasons for the crime can be based on:
- race or perceived race
- religion or perceived religion (or no religion)
- sexuality or perceived sexuality
- transgender or perceived transgender
- disability or perceived disability
- individual characteristics (alternative lifestyles, dress style, physical appearance, culture)
- gender based hostility
Places to report hate crime
If you would like to report a hate incident or crime, you can:
- call 101 to report directly to the police
- report to your local community safety team
- report a crime or incident to the Police through the True vision website
- contact Stop Hate UK or call 0800 138 1625
- contact VOICE by calling 0300 303 1965 or send them an email at [email protected]
- contact Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111
- contact Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council on 01604 400808
For further information please visit the Northants Police website.
Victim experiences
Hate crimes or incidents can come in many different forms and varying degrees of seriousness. Below are just some examples reported in the past:
- verbal insults or abusive gestures
- verbal abuse
- threat of attack or bullying
- offensive letters or e-mails
- abusive or threatening phone calls, texts, e-mails or letters
- malicious complaints
- physical attacks
- physical assaults, which can include a minor push, as well as more serious assaults
- damage to a victim's house, shed, car or any other property they own
- offensive graffiti
- neighbour disputes
- rubbish thrown in to a garden or dumped near to a home
- eggs or stones thrown at a house
- offensive or dangerous substances posted through letterboxes
- arson
Why you should report
When speaking out or reporting incidents you do not have to press charges against people. You can simply record that you perceived the incident to have happened.
Control over what will happen lies with you; however, if you do report the incident, your concerns will be dealt with in a way that will ensure your confidentiality.
Last updated 05 November 2024