Dyfed Powys Police are sending out a reminder that they will not tolerate any form of hate crime, and are encouraging people who feel that they have been a victim to come forward and report any incidents.
Hate crime is a criminal offence and no incident is too minor to report to the Police. They are crimes motivated by a prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender.
Assistant Chief Constable Mr Nick Ingram said, “Hate crime is different from other crimes as it targets people’s identity. It is a very personal crime based on other people’s prejudices. In Dyfed Powys we simply will not tolerate it and are working hard to ensure our officers are trained to deal with reported incidents and people feel confident to come forward and tell us when they have been a victim.
“We want people to realise that any behaviour towards them relating to their identity, whether it be disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender, should be reported. We do take it seriously and there is support available.
“The statistics show that the number of hate crimes reported in Dyfed Powys is relatively low compared to other areas, but this does not mean that we do not take it seriously. Early last year we introduced a hate crime support officer role, we now have 12 officers in each Division who provide additional support to victims of hate crime as well as the officers who are dealing with the incidents.
“In the summer of 2009 an all Wales initiative was launched which promoted third party reporting of hate crimes. Victims can now report incidents to an independent charity ‘Safer Wales’ by visiting their website www.saferwales.com.”
