“No place for hate in Lancashire”

A RANGE of activities and events will take place across the county this week as the police join forces with other agencies to raise awareness of hate incidents and crime.

The action comes as part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2015 and will run from Saturday 10 October until Saturday 17 October.

It aims to tackle hate incidents and crime issues by raising awareness of what hate crime is and how to respond to it, encourage reporting and promote local support services and resources.

It will see officers and other practitioners come together at a county-wide conference to discuss how they are jointly going to tackle hate crime. Officers are also holding events in local communities and will be supporting Disability Equality North West’s purple ribbon campaign by wearing ribbons containing a message in support of those affected by hate crime.

Chief Supt Stuart Noble, Lancashire Constabulary’s lead on hate crime, said: “Hate crime is any criminal offence which is motivated by hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people for example race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender, disability, age or gender.

“Hate incidents and crimes of any kind can have a devastating effect on the victim, their families and communities.

“They are frightening and upsetting but, by reporting any incident or crime, you can get the help and support you need and prevent it from happening to other people. The only way we can stamp out this sort of behaviour is if we know about it – and we need the public’s help to achieve this.

“Hate incidents and crimes of any kind are not acceptable, and instances of it need to end. There is no place for hate in Lancashire.”

If you have been the victim of hate crime or you have seen it happen to someone else, call the police on 101. Alternatively, True Vision has a confidential online reporting facility.

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