Hate Crime

What is Hate Crime?

Hate crimes and hate incidents include acts of verbal, written, or physical abuse, as well as harassment or intimidation, that target a person or group because of their personal characteristics. These may be related to someone’s age, gender, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or beliefs.

Examples of Hate Crimes

Hate crimes can take many forms. Some examples include:

• Racial abuse: Harassment or offensive comments aimed at someone’s race, culture, country of origin, or immigration status
• Sexist abuse: Targeting someone with abusive language or behaviour because of their gender
• Ageist abuse: Insults or discrimination aimed at someone because of their age
• Homophobic abuse: Targeting someone with harassment or derogatory remarks because of their sexual orientation
• Transphobic abuse: Abuse or discrimination against transgender or gender-diverse individuals

Hate crime is a criminal offence. We take all incidents of hate crime seriously and encourage you to report any incidents to us and the police right away.

Why Report Hate Crime?

Reporting hate crime is important, as it helps you get the support you may need and may also help prevent these incidents from happening to someone else.

How to Report Hate Crime

In an emergency where you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call the Police on 999.

To report hate crime directly to the police in a non-emergency:

• Phone 101 or visit a police station

If you prefer not to go directly to the police, you can report hate crime to:

• Crimestoppers: Call 0800 555 111 or visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org
• Stop Hate UK: Visit www.stophateuk.org for further information

Report to North Star

If you have experienced hate crime, you can also report it to us. North Star takes hate crime very seriously, and we encourage you to let us know about any incidents.

Our tenants are responsible for ensuring that they, their household members, and visitors do not harass or abuse others.

Ways to Report Hate Crime to North Star:

• Customer Services Team: Call us at 03000 11 00 11
• Contact your housing/support officer
• Email: Send us a message at hatecrime@northstarhg.co.uk

Our Approach to Hate Crime

We take a victim-centered approach to all reports of hate crime. This means we will:

1. Handle all reports with care and confidentiality.
2. Consider all reports of hate crime as high-risk and respond accordingly.
3. Conduct a thorough investigation of all reported incidents.
4. Offer advice, and information, and connect you to support agencies if we can’t provide direct assistance.
5. Work closely with other agencies to ensure the best level of support.
6. Take action against those responsible where appropriate.
7. Agree on an action plan with you and keep you updated throughout the process.

We’re here to support you and help keep our community safe.