Merseyside Hate Crime Awareness Week

Merseyside Police are joining forces with other regional police and community organisations to raise awareness of hate crime this month.

The focus will be on Merseyside Hate Crime Awareness Week which will run from 5 – 9 February, beginning with an event to bring together community groups and organisations from across the city, including staff and students from the University, to hear from victims of hate crime.

What is hate crime?

Hate crime is a crime committed against a person because of hatred or prejudice toward one of their personal characteristics such as:

  • Disability
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Transgender identity
  • Sexual orientation

Hate crimes can take many forms, including verbal or physical abuse; abusive gestures; offensive comments on social media; disseminating offensive leaflets or defacing property with offensive graffiti such as hate symbols, racist or offensive statements.

The Home Office reported a spike in incidents of religious and race-based hate crime in the months following the EU referendum result in June 2016, and following several nationally reported terrorist incidents during 2017.

If you experience or witness hate crime, we encourage you to report it and seek support.  In an emergency on campus please contact Campus Support on 2222. If you have an emergency off campus call 999. You can also seek support through the Liverpool Guild of Students, which is a hate crime reporting centre, or by speaking to Student Welfare Advice and Guidance.

Key contacts:

Guild of Students – guildadvice@liverpool.ac.uk 0151 794 6868

Student Welfare Advice and Guidance – advice@liverpool.ac.uk 0151 794 5863

You can also drop in to see an adviser at the Alsop Building on University Square.

If you wish to report to the Police, our advisers can support you to do so. Alternatively you can contact Merseyside Police and find out more here: https://www.merseyside.police.uk/advice-and-protection/crimes-against-people/hate-crime/.

Find out more about hate crime at Stop Hate UK: https://www.stophateuk.org/.

One thought on “Merseyside Hate Crime Awareness Week

  1. John

    It would be good to speak to students to gauge their views, understanding, experiences about hate crime particularly if they are inclined not to report incidents. There may be a range of reasons why reports are not made and in some instances it’s because it’s felt the incident is not serious enough, no confidence in the police, a belief reporting will not make a difference and a whole host of other reasons.

    Students’ views are welcomed in order to influence and provide a victim’s perpective on what they believe would work for them. Those views could directly impact on the way services are provided to victims.

    As a service provider, the Anthony Walker Foundation would be more than happy to have dialogue with students on the issues relating to hate crime in order to improve services and become more accessible to anyone requiring support.

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