James Wild MP is pleased to see the relaunch of the Stop Hate in Norfolk (SHiN) campaign to send a powerful message to the people of Norfolk to stand up against hate incidents.
The campaign has been updated with a new logo that sends a message of unity to the whole community.
In Norfolk there are approximately 1,200 hate incidents each year. About 80%, however, are not reported, which is something that needs to change.
Hate incidents and crime can take many forms and some are more obvious than others. Although physical violence, verbal abuse, damage to property and graffiti are common, other forms of hate incidents are on the increase including, for example:
- Instances where vulnerable people are befriended to be exploited known as ‘Mate Crime’. There may be safeguarding implications with this form of hate incident.
- Internet hate crime, which is becoming increasingly common especially among children and vulnerable people, and can include anything from hate mail and texts to posting hate material on social media.
SHiN aims to encourage more people to have the confidence to report incidents of hate either direct to the police or through external organisations that can support people to report that may not wish to go direct to the police.
The Stop Hate in Norfolk Protocol aims to create a common standard for tackling hate incidents across Norfolk. It sets out how different organisations in Norfolk – whether public, private, voluntary or community – will work together, to make it easier for residents to report hate incidents and crime. Any organisation in Norfolk can adopt the Protocol, which can be found here: shin_protocol_2017-2021.docx
Often, victims of hate incidents are not confident to report hate incidents to the Police, or they may not think it is important. Third Party Reporting simply where staff or volunteers in different organisations or community groups across Norfolk have adopted SHiN and provide an alternative to reporting directly to the police. Staff and volunteers are able to take an incident report on behalf of a victim or witness. If you are interested in being a third-party reporting organisation the protocol and undertaking the e-learning, please click here.
For more information and to direct anyone who might need to report and incident of hate, please visit http://www.norfolk.police.uk/stop-hate or call 07786 200777
