Bedfordshire Police is urging victims of hate crime in the county to come forward and report incidents, as figures consistently show more than eight out of ten charges brought by the force resulted in a conviction.
Bedfordshire Police had an 84 per cent conviction rate for hate crime from April to December 2019, and is encouraging people to come forward and speak out against this vastly under-reported crime.
Sergeant Carl Perri, force hate crime lead, said, “Bedfordshire enjoys huge diversity, and on the whole our different communities live together harmoniously, but when hate crime occurs, we take a hard line approach and would always encourage victims to report this to us.
“No one should be targeted for a particular personal characteristic, and our team works hard to educate our county about the severity of hate crime, and to give our communities the confidence to speak out against such prejudice.
“We have trained hate crime ambassadors, online reporting, and third party reporting centres to tackle hate crime, and these have assisted in providing more choice to victims about how they contact the authorities.
“We will ensure all investigative avenues are explored to secure evidence and, whilst we will consider all the options and take civil remedies where possible. We are proud of our record for the highest conviction rates at court in the region for crimes of this type.
If you or anyone you know has been affected by hate crime contact Bedfordshire Police on 101 or contact True Vision online at report-it.org.uk or via the Third Party Reporting Centres which are hosted by a range of key organisations and groups in the heart of our communities, and a full list can be found on the Bedfordshire Police website.You can also keep up-to-date with what Bedfordshire Police is doing to tackle hate crime by following @hatecrimeteam on Twitter.
