Hate Crime

Guidance for filling out the form

Incident details

We understand that it may be difficult to recall, or indeed know, exactly when an incident occurred so if you are unsure about any of the details we would ask that you give an approximate. As you see we have also asked for the road name where the incident happened - just give us as much detail as you have.

Description of incident

The form provides prompts designed to help you. If they are not able to answer specific questions move onto the next.

We would ask that you consider the following questions when you respond to this question:

How did the incident begin?
What did the person say to you?
What did the person do to you?
Did the person damage any of your property?
Did the person threaten you?
Did anyone else witness the incident i.e. bystanders?
Are you concerned that this person may do it again?
If so why?

Once again, if you are unsure about any of the details do not worry, you can discuss this with the Council officer when you talk to them.

Are you the victim of this incident or a witness/third party?

This question is important because hate crimes can be reported by a witness rather than the direct victim. The intervention would therefore be different.

Has this person harmed or threatened you before?

This will assist us to identify risk of escalation. Your answer here will assist us to identify if this is a one off or if it might happen again. Either way please be assured that we will take it seriously. If it has happened before we then provide a space for you to give us some details about the previous incidents.

Do you think this incident has happened to you because of your race, faith, age, sexuality, gender identity or disability?

If you are not sure use the definitions set out on the hate crime web page to assist you both to determine what type of hate crime this incident falls under.

Do you know the person who did this to you?

If yes, what is your relationship to this person? Please specify if the relationship if it isn't listed. If known, please provide a brief description of the person who did this to you?

Suspect(s) Details: Do you know the person/people who did this?

This question allow us to understand if you are at a continued risk, and any sensitivities that we will need to be aware of.

Are you happy for me to share this report with the Council and/or the Police?

This section is designed to determine if we have consent to share the information with Police in its entirety, without the personal details of the victim, or not at all.

Are you happy for this report to be shared with the Police?

Options you have in this section are:

Yes
Yes, but without giving them my name and address
No, I just want it to be looked into by the Council
No, I just want this report to be logged by the Council for crime prevention purposes only

We would encourage you to give your consent to share your report with the Police. However, you do not have to. If you are worried we could arrange to pass the incident details to the Police without your name or address included.

This will allow the Police to log the incident so that they might stop it from happening to someone else. Remember even the smallest detail could help Police to make Barking and Dagenham safer.

Has this incident been reported to any other organisation?

This is to help us to gather intelligence and to prevent double counting of the report e.g. the Police, a community group, their GP etc.

Safety check

If you are concerned for your safety you should always phone the Police on 999.

Victim details

You may choose not to give these details. The consequence will be that the incident is just recorded for intelligence purposes rather than investigated by the Police or Council. It is also possible for you to give your personal details only for the use of the Council.

In relation to the telephone contact details and time make sure you put down a convenient and safe time to call. Some victims may live with the suspect and so it is important that we do not place the victim at risk by contacting them.

If there are concerns like this please record under the 'Are there any other issues that staff contacting you should be aware of?'

Declaration

You need to agree that the information contained in the report is an accurate account of the incident.

Like a signature by ticking this box you are agreeing that what you have said on the form is correct. There will of course be an opportunity to go into more detail when a Council officer contact you as this is simply some initial basic notes to start the process.

You may also wish to download a copy of our 'Hate Incident Directory of Services'. This booklet provides you with the contact details of local and national services that you may wish to contact for support.

Contact

Domestic Violence and Hate Crime Manager

Community Safety and Prevention

Roycraft House

15 Linton Road

Barking

IG11 8HE

Supported by Barking and Dagenham Direct:

Tel: 020 8215 3010

Fax: 020 8227 5184

Textphone: 020 8227 5755

Email: hatecrime@lbbd.gov.uk|

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 8am - 8pm.

Stop Hate Crime 24 hour helpline: 0800 138 1625