Neighbourhood Watch
COMBATING HATE CRIME
The Southern Division of Cambridgeshire Constabulary has recently created a team who will focus on dealing effectively with incidents of Hate Crime.
The initiative is called 'Operation SHINE'- Stopping Hate in Neighbourhood Environments. SHINE will focus on crimes where the perpetrator's prejudice against any identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised. For example, those subjected to racist or homophobic crime, or those subjected to crime as a result of belonging to a faith group or because they are homeless or disabled, could be helped by the SHINE task force.
The 20 strong team includes detectives, community safety officers, operational police officers and support staff, all of whom are trained on how to deal effectively with homophobic and racist incidents and other incidents which could be classified as 'hate' crime. From 5th February any reports of such incidents will be referred to these officers, to ensure the correct action is taken.
Although the number of racially or homophobically aggravated incidents reported to police in Cambridge is still relatively low, many still go unreported -particularly in rural areas. Karen Clegg, the Minority Liaison Officer, has been holding 'surgeries' across Cambridge to encourage people to report any incidents such as these. It is anticipated that this service will be extended to rural areas in the future,
DCI Beck, the Task Force leader, said "I hope that anyone who has been a victim of racial or homophobic crime will trust me when I say that their complaints will be taken seriously, and that with the creation of this new team there are specialist officers who can help them further."
The team will not just work on a reactive basis, but will also work, for example with officers from the Divisional Intelligence Unit to proactively tackle people identified as committing offences such as racially or homophobically aggravated crime.
if you think you are the victim of Hate Crime, contact Cambridgeshire
Constabulary on 01223 358966.
Congratulations
To Mark Estall
Who has been awarded the Cambridge City Council Schools Sports Roy Burrell Award for his achievements in sport in Cambridge.