Hate crime reported every week in Jersey

Monday 24 October 2016

Police say they've had 73 cases of hate crime reported to them over the last 18 months, most of which were race related - and they believe there are a lot more cases which aren't reported.

Acting Chief Inspector Matt Le Monnier hopes a new local page on a national website will encourage more victims here to go online and report it, so that officers can help deal with the problem.

You can now report hate crime here on the UK's True Vision website.

Acting Chief Inspector Le Monnier said: "I think it would be very naive of us to think that hate crime doesn't happen, very much like previously domestic abuse and sexual offences have been significantly undereported, there's no question in my mind that hate crime sits among them in that phase and I believe that True Vision will be a vehicle hopefully to increase reporting and to have a better understanding of what the problem is, the scale and nature of the issue and only then can we start to work to look to eradicate it and deal with any offenders robustly.

"One of the conditions of having True Vision brought to Jersey is that we have an email address that is monitored 24/7 by our Force Control Room so effectively if it's a crime in action, something that's happening there and then, always call 999 straight away, that's the first port of call. However if it's something that is not immediate, and you are reflecting upon and you think no I am going to report that, then you can fill in the form, you choose to be anonymous or you can choose to put your details and that will go straight to the Force Control Room Sergeant who will assess it and treat it like any other call and dedicate resources to it."

Over the last two years the UK site has had more than four thousand reports of the crime from victims suffering on the grounds of race, religion, age, sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability.

True Vision Manager Paul Giannasi said the site allows people to report the crime anonymously and also for self-help groups to report them on other people's behalf.

He said: “England and Wales and Northern Ireland have developed one of the most comprehensive responses to hate crime anywhere in the world.

“A key objective has been to address the under- reporting of hate crime and our research tells us that less than one in four crimes is recorded by the police, despite the UK recording more than 100 times the number of some comparable states.

“We have found the internet to be a great source of concern for hate speech but it also offers us some of our most effective tools to respond. True Vision has provided our most valuable tool and it delivers information to victims and professionals alike but also allows for the secure reporting of hate crime.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work in collaboration with the States of Jersey Police to provide the same service to victims in Jersey.” 

Police here say they have plans to translate the website page into Portuguese and Polish.