Our Podcast on Hate Crime Awareness Week

As we enter Hate Crime Awareness Week (8^th October – 14^th October 2022) Richard met with PC Nick James a friend of Accessible Wales to chat about Hate Crime and his role as a Hate Crime and Community Cohesion Officer.

South Wales Police say the following on Hate Crime “With hate crime it is ‘who’ the victim is, or ‘what’ the victim appears to be that motivates the offender to commit the crime.

Richard Jones with PC Nick James from South Wales Police

South Wales Police say the following on Hate Crime:

“With hate crime it is ‘who’ the victim is, or ‘what’ the victim appears to be that motivates the offender to commit the crime. A hate crime is defined as ‘Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.”

It is important to remember that a hate crime is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks occurs as a result of someone’s prejudice towards them because of their:

race,
religion,
sexual orientation,
disability
or because they are transgender.

Accessible News Say No 2 Hate Graphic depicting a scissors cutting through the word hate

South Wales Police also go on to say that evidence of the hate element is not a requirement. You do not need to personally perceive the incident to be hate related, it can be enough that another person, a witness or even a police officer thought that the incident was hate related.

Hate Crimes can be reported by :

Call 101 or 999 if you feel threatened or it’s happening at the time and you need immediate help.

Report the matter online, social media or via email. You can either report it to your local police force or to https://www.report-it.org.uk Report A Hate Crime – True Vision Cymru.