Report a hate crime

A hate crime is when someone commits a crime against you because of your:

disability
gender identity
race
religion
sexual orientation
or any other actual or perceived difference

It doesn't just mean physical violence.

Someone using offensive language towards you or harassing you because of who you are (or who they think you are) is also a crime.

Another example of hate crime is someone posting abusive or offensive messages about you online.

You might want to shrug it off if it happens to you. But if you don't tell us, we won't know about it and can't stop it from getting worse, for you or someone else.

Even if you're not sure if it's a crime or not, you should report it so we can investigate.

Hate crime doesn't have to be targeted at you to report it. You can report anything you see happening to someone else or report it on their behalf if they don't want to.

We understand that you might not feel comfortable talking to the police about what happened.