Today, Saturday 12 October, marks the start of this year’s National Hate Crime Awareness Week.

THROUGHOUT the next seven days, Essex Police will be raising awareness of different hate crime offences, how to report them and organisations you can go to for support if you don’t want to talk to them straight away.

An Essex Police spokesperson said: “We’ll be looking into how our officers investigate these offences, and what justice can look like after a hate crime has been proven – both in and out of court.

Between September 2018 and August 2019, a total of 2846 hate crimes were reported to us.

“These varied from reported verbal attacks, to written or online communication that was deemed to be criminally offensive, to different types of assaults. Regardless of the manner of hate crimes, they’re unacceptable and we will work to get justice for any of these victims.

This was an increase of 554 reports from the previous year, but we know that hate crime is still underreported. We hope that this increase is a step in the right direction, with more victims of hate crime feeling comfortable to talk to us about their experience and, where possible, seek justice.

Whether you’ve been targeted for your disability, race, religion, sexuality, or because you’re transgender, we want to ensure that you get the support you need.

“If you don’t feel comfortable with reporting hate crime to us in the first instance, you can call the Stop Hate UK hotline on 0800 138 1625. You can also visit one of our Hate Incident Reporting Centres and speak to one of our trained Hate Crime Ambassadors.

Alternatively, you can speak to Victim Support, a national charity who can signpost you to organisations who can help you. They can be reached on 0808 1781 694 or you can request support through their website.

If you wish to report hate crime you can submit information online through the True Vision website: www.report-it.org.uk, through our own website or by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency.

“If you report a hate crime to us, you may come into contact with one of our three Hate Crime Officers (HCO). One of our three HCOs covers each area of the county – North, South and West. They review hate crimes that have been reported to ensure that they’re progressing in the most effective way and that victims are being referred to support organisations. They also assist our officers with their investigations, train and visit our Hate Incident Reporting Centres and engage with local community groups to raise aware of hate crimes and support networks on a regular basis. We’re going to introduce you to them now.