Officers engage with communities across Teesside as part of hate crime awareness week

The engagement took place across all four districts – Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton – and built further relationships between our local officers and members of the public.

Our neighbourhood and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) visited schools, colleges, community and shopping centres, churches and mosques to show the force’s commitment and support to our communities when tackling hate crimes.

A number of handouts were provided to the public to educate on what a hate crime is and the various ways to report it as well as encouraging people to seek support from a variety of local and national organisations.

The activity throughout the week included:

• A pop-up stall at Bede College in Billingham and Stockton Riverside College to engage with youths and staff and provide information regarding hate crime, information on how to report it as well as safety and crime prevention advice.
• Officers visited asylum seekers and refugees in Hartlepool to educate people on what a hate crime is and encourage the reporting of it.
• Members of the community at Viewly Centre in Hemlington were also spoken to by officers.
• PCSOs attended Outwood Normanby for hate crime awareness week to hand out leaflets and engage with staff and numerous children.
• Teesside University, Breckon Hill Community Centre, The Northern School of Art and Rivers House all received a visit from officers as part of the awareness week.
• A stall was set up in the Hill Street shopping centre in Middlesbrough with officers, Middlesbrough Council and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner who were handing out leaflets and educating and encouraging people to report hate crime.

Following the week, Cleveland Police’s hate crime awareness lead, Superintendent Emily Harrison, said: “I am delighted that so many officers across the force took part in hate crime awareness week.

“One of our focuses throughout the week was to build and strengthen our relationship between local officers and the community and it is great to see that while officers do this regularly, we went that extra mile to provide support, advice and encouragement to report hate crimes.

“We appreciate that there are people out there who will not know what to do if they have been the victim of a hate crime, but the first step is to report it and then feel assured that our officers will do the rest.”

There are numerous ways to report a hate crime.

You can call Cleveland Police on 101, visit the force’s website or download and use the COPA app on your smart phone.

Alternatively, you can report the crime to a third sector or charity organisation as well as your local council. More information can be found here