We are a 3rd Party Hate Crime Reporting Centre!
SDEF has now become a 3rd Party Hate Crime Reporting Centre.
As part of our remit, Scottish Disability Equality Forum will be working with various organisations to help reduce disability hate crime. In order to achieve this, we must ensure that disabled people know:
We are working with Access Panels to provide those affected by disability hate crime with access to support and guidance on dealing with disability hate crime. By empowering disabled people to come forward and report these crimes, we can all work towards securing a more tolerant future for those affected by disability.
What is disability hate crime?
Hate crimes and incidents are any crime or incident which is targeted at a victim because of the offender's hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people.
So any incident or crime, which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated because of a person's disability or perceived disability will be recorded as such. This can be committed against a person or property.
A disability hate crime is:
“Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability or perceived disability.”
The Equality Act 2010 (EA) generally defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The definition of disability hate crime would include anyone who was targeted as a result of his or her disability or impairment, as defined by the EA.
How to report hate crime?
All hate crimes and incidents should be reported. By reporting incidents, you will enable the police, local councils, housing associations etc to build up patterns of behaviour locally, and highlight areas of concern within your community.
But more importantly, you can get the support you may need and help ensure that offenders are brought to justice and cannot to the same to other people.
There are several ways you can report a hate crime, whether you have been a victim, a witness, or you are reporting on behalf of someone else:
- In an emergency
- call 999
- If you cannot make voice calls, you can now contact the 999 emergency services by SMS text from your mobile phone. However, you will only be able to use this service if you have registered with emergencySMS first. See the emergencySMS website for details.
- Contact your local police station
- Who you can speak to in confidence. You do not have to give your personal details, but please be aware the investigation and ability to prosecute the offender(s) is severely limited if the police cannot contact you. Contact your local police force, either by telephone or by visiting your local police station. Details on how to contact your local police force can be found on the Police Scotland website
- Report online
- 3rd party reporting centres
- Crimestoppers
- If you do not want to talk to the police or fill in the reporting forms, you can still report a hate crime by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or via their website at www.crimestoppers-uk.org You do not have to give your name and what you say is confidential. It is free to call.
Who to contact?
- Stop Hate Crime UK
- SupportLine
- Victim Support
- Your Local Authority
- Equality & Human Rights Commission
- Crimestoppers
- True Vision
- Police Scotland
Disability Hate Crime Roadshow - 20 October 2014
We held a Disability Hate Crime event in Alloa on 20 October 2014. This event is part of a series of events taking place throughout Scotland for SDEF members and a wider audience who want to connect with SDEF.
This was also an opportunity to discuss the process of reporting a disability hate crime and feed this valuable information back to Police Scotland.
Download feedback reports:
- document Disability Hate Crime Roadshow 20 October 2014 (67 KB) Word
- pdf Disability Hate Crime Roadshow 20 October 2014 (141 KB) PDF
What our members said:
Hate Crime Reporting Form
- provide a guidance note to help with completing the online form
Follow up
- a follow up process is required with victim
Accessibility
- provide a search facility on reporting centres and define criteria for accessible centres
Awareness
- Marketing and promotional materials needed from Police Scotland to raise awareness of Disability Hate Crime and the Reporting Centres
- Fully inclusive materials of information needs to be created
- More events to raise awareness
We would like to thank those who attended and contributed at this event.
