Tackling Hate Crime with Police Scotland

Forth Valley Sensory Centre recently welcomed Inspector Vince Hughes from Falkirk Police to talk about reporting hate crime.

The Centre is a Third Party Reporting Centre for hate crime and sadly, Centre Users have experienced a range of problems, because of their sensory loss over the years.

Inspector Hughes donated an iPad to our new Technology Hub to help train people in reporting hate crime online, something we are sure we will make good use of. He was welcomed to the centre by Laura Cluxton, one of our ‘Digital Champions’ who is blind herself and volunteers to help outher people with sight loss embrace digital technology.

Forth Valley Sensory Centre Manager Jacquie Winning commented: “Thank you so much to Forth Valley Police for the donation of this iPad. On behalf of our Centre users, I’d like to applaud the proactive approach to helping keep vulnerable people, with sight and hearing loss, safe from scams and helping spread the word that Hate Crime, no matter what form it takes, is completely unacceptable.

“Hate Crime generally is very under reported but Hate Crime against disabled people, dramatically so. We know from our own Personal Safety Classes that up to half of those taking part have experienced Hate Crime as a result of their sensory loss yet reported hate crimes, based on disability, remain the lowest of any category so we know the true figures, sadly, are much higher.”

Additional comment if needed:

“Forth Valley Sensory Centre is a Third Party Reporting Centre for Hate Crime. You can report incidents anonymously and we can provide support if needed. We would encourage anyone who is the victim of a Hate Crime to report it and not to accept it as part of day to day life. Forth valley Police are taking this very seriously and we are glad to be working with them on such an important issue.”

You can read more about Hate Crime reporting as well as watch a BSL video on the Police Scotland Website here.

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