Hate Crime Awareness Week
Hate Crime Awareness Week: A blog from Lionel Idan, CCP for London South | The Crown Prosecution Service view his blog here
Read more...Police in Edinburgh are investigating after racial and homophobic graffiti appeared in the Calton Hill area of the city.
According to the BBC, offensive slogans were first discovered on Jacobs Ladder Steps in the city centre on 6th June 2019.
Police were then alerted to similar acts of vandalism in the New Calton burial ground on different days later.
Police officers investigate the incident believe the graffiti was applied overnight and say they are treating the incidents as hate crimes.
Sgt David Tench said: "We are taking these incidents very seriously and we are working closely with our partners in Edinburgh City Council to ensure that the graffiti is cleaned off quickly.
"We have now deployed plain clothes police officers in the area and increased our high-visibility patrols in an effort to identify those responsible.
"We have also requested a temporary CCTV camera to be installed in the area to assist our inquiries.
"We take all types of hate crime seriously and this type of conduct will not be tolerated."
Graffiti is a serious crime can impact all members of society. Visible graffiti can deeply cause offence, it can fuel hatred and also reinforce any negative social tensions which may exsist within a community.
Graffiti has taken place in Warwickshire and the most recent case occured in Rugby when a religious building was targetted.
EQuIP, a pan-equalities charity based in Warwickshire support victims of hate crime and they strongly encourage anyone that comes across graffiti or witnesses any form hate crime/incident to always report.
Victims and/or witnesses can ring 101 in a non-emergency situation, but always call 999 in an emergency.
In Warwickshire, some people that do not want to contact the police directly, so they can report hate crimes/incidents to EQuIP via the www.reporthatenow.com website, email: advice@equipequality.org.uk or if you prefer to speak to someone in person, you can contact telephone EQuIP on 01788 863117.