Police Scotland Hate Crime

Scotland is a rich and diverse country, made up of many communities who bring a wide range of skills, experiences and cultures to the way in which we live and work.

Unfortunately we also have to recognise that not everyone appreciates Scotland’s rich diversity and that means hate crime can cause problems across our country.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY HATE CRIME?

Hate crime is a term that most people will be aware of, but often they are not clear on what it means. The official definition is “any crime motivated by malice or ill will towards a social group”. What does this mean? In basic terms if you are targeted by a person or group and you think the reason you have been targeted is because of your:

• Disability;

• Race;

• Religion;

• Sexual orientation;

• Transgender Identity;

then this could be a hate crime.

Hate crime happens in many different ways, for example, it can range from someone calling you names or shouting and swearing at you to offensive graffiti to your home or being physically attacked or receiving online abuse.

Research tells us that hate crime is not always reported. This can be for lots of different reasons. In particular research by Mencap states approximately 97% of disability related hate crime does not get reported to the police. That is a frightening statistic. So what are we, Police Scotland doing about it?

By working with partners like Spinal Injuries Scotland we get information to communities and give people the confidence to report incidents.

We also support Disability Equality Scotland’s Disability Safety Hub where you can find information on what hate crime is and how you can report it.

In some cases people do not feel comfortable reporting hate crime directly to the Police, and may be more comfortable reporting it to someone they are familiar with. Police Scotland work with a variety of partners to perform the role of 3rd Party Reporting Centres. These partners have been trained to support people in submitting a report to the police, and can make such a report their behalf.

We believe the best solution to hate crime is prevention. A key to this is education. We work with the charity I Am Me Scotland who educate school pupils on disability hate crime and its impact on people and communities.

They also work with us to create a network of ‘Keep Safe’ places. Keep Safe works with a network of businesses such as shops, libraries, cafes who have agreed to make their premises a ‘Keep Safe’ place for people to go if they feel frightened, distressed or if you have been the victim of a crime in the community.

There are nearly 700 Keep Safe places in Scotland. You can identify them by this logo.

Has hate crime affected you or someone you know? If you want to talk about it please contact us here at Spinal Injuries Scotland on 0800 0132 305.

You can get more information on I Am Me, Keep Safe and the other projects mentioned as well as how to contact Police Scotland on these links:

disabilitysafety.scot www.iammescotland.co.uk www.scotland.police.uk

Has hate crime affected you or someone you know? If you want to talk about it please contact us here at Spinal Injuries Scotland on 0800 0132 305.