Birmingham Pride, in partnership with West Midlands Police (WMP), is launching a new partnership to tackle issues surrounding hate crime reporting, which will launch with The Loft bar becoming a hub where those who have experienced or witnessed a hate crime can report the incident.
“There already exists these third party hate crime reporting schemes, with Birmingham LGBT Centre being one of them,” explains Birmingham Pride’s Eva Echo, talking to Scene magazine, “But we’re looking to kind of almost remodel it slightly because especially where Birmingham LGBT Centre is, it’s quite exposed; it’s on the main road and when people go in, you’re basically outing yourself to whoever’s going by. And also, people don’t necessarily feel safe because of the underpass that’s just outside.
“So, the initiative is, we’re turning The Loft, in the heart of the village, into a third-party hate crime hub. As well as having third-party hate crime reporting facilities with trained and dedicated members of staff, we’ll also act as go-between, between WMP and the victims of hate crime.”
With the person’s permission, the members of staff at The Loft’s hub will also be able to get updates on the case, or ask the police to ring the person directly with updates.
“Most importantly, it’s that safety aspect” Eva adds, “Because from the outside, you’re going in and it just looks like you’re having a drink or meeting some friends or something like that. So, it’s much more discrete and you don’t have to out yourself.
“Although it will primarily be LGBTQ+ hate crime, anybody who maybe feels a bit vulnerable going into hate crime reporting areas in their own communities can at least come here and again it’s more discrete.”
Innayah Aziz, ASB and Hate Crime Officer for WMP, added: “We know that some people affected by hate crime may not feel comfortable reporting an incident directly to police. Third Party Reporting Centres allow anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime to report it to trained staff at their nearest centre which will then be sent directly and confidentially to the police.
“It is fantastic to have The Loft as a Third Party Reporting Centre to help everyone in the community report incidents as well as get advice and support on hate crime. Together we can end hate.”
Birmingham Pride will also partner with an organisation called Remedy, that offers support services as part of their triage for those experiencing hate crime. Remedy will offer free ongoing support, including how to seek counselling, signposting to various groups, as well as helping prepare people for court.
Eva Echo also explains that the initiative aims to build a bridge between the community, and the police and criminal justice system, so that the public have a better understanding of its workings and are aware of limitations, for example with CCTV.
The partnership will also offer victims of hate crime a form of closure, “if a case can’t proceed for whatever reason, then a part of this will be to say ‘these are the reason why this is why we couldn’t take it forward’.” Additionally, cases where there are no convictions or any sort of prosecution, will still feed into the data and statistics.
“It is fantastic to have The Loft as a Third Party Reporting Centre to help everyone in the community report incidents as well as get advice and support on hate crime. Together we can end hate.”
As well as reporting cases of hate crime, Eva Echo stresses that people can also report hate incidents or cases where they are unsure, so that these too will be recorded in the statistics.
“If there are increases or if there are any trends, at least we can deal with it if we’re aware of it, but at the moment without statistics, it’s literally the community saying, police need to do better, but the police are like ‘Well, what do you want us to do? We can’t do anything.’”
The partnership will be community-led, allowing for feedback and suggestions from the public, including through a survey to be launched further down the line.
While Birmingham Pride are aware that a partnership with WMP may cause a backlash from the community due to historic trauma, Eva Echo explains: “We can’t let that overshadow the work the needs doing to go forwards. LGBTQ+ hate crime is on a rise. So, we need to do something otherwise the only ones that lose out are us.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.