Report a Hate Crime
Citizens Advice Ipswich is a hate crime reporting centre.
This means that we can help and support you if you have been a victim of a hate crime, or if you have witnessed one.
What is a hate crime?
If you’ve experienced a crime, it’s also a hate crime if you think the person’s behaviour was motivated by prejudice against you:
- because of your race or religion
- because of your sexuality
- because you’re disabled
- because you’re transgender
For example, it’s a hate crime if someone assaulted you and used homophobic language or threw a brick through your window and wrote racist graffiti on your house.
The penalty for a crime is more serious if it’s a hate crime.
If you’ve experienced something that wasn’t a crime, but you think it was motivated by prejudice against you, it’s a hate incident. For example, if someone shouted abuse at you from their car.
If you’ve experienced abuse and you think it’s because of your age, your local police force might treat it as a hate incident.
If you experience more than one hate incident by the same person or group of people, it might count as harassment. Harassment can be a crime. For example, it might be harassment if someone on your street keeps shouting abuse at you.
If you’re not sure if what happened was a hate crime or a hate incident, you can contact us and our advisers can help you decide.
Should you report it?
It’s worth reporting it to the police even if you don’t think it’s very serious. Sometimes small hate incidents can lead to more serious ones. For example, someone might start by making offensive jokes – but they could end up hurting someone.
If you experience more than one hate incident by the same person or group of people, it’s worth reporting every incident to the police.
If you’d like our help to report it
Our trained advisers can help you make a report to the police, and signpost you to organisations in the local area that can provide you with additional support.
You can contact us by phone, in-person, or online.
Report it yourself online
You can report hate crimes online via the True Vision website.
You don’t have to give your name, although the police will not be able to investigate reports made anonymously.