HOUSING associations across Glasgow have joined forces to crack down on 'hate crime'.
HOUSING associations across Glasgow have joined forces to crack down on 'hate crime'.
Homes bosses, council chiefs and police are to target racist incidents and attacks on homosexuals and disabled people.
Glasgow Community and Safety Services (GCSS) has now appointed a hate crime policy officer, Lynn Jolly.
She will be speaking with housing association members to encourage them to report incidents.
Patricia Gallagher, director of Provanhall Housing Association, said: "As most housing associations already record and provide statistics on anti-social behaviour incidents, we now hope to work alongside GCSS to make recording these a general practice - including those that a victim or witness believes are related to race, homophobia and disability."
Lynn, who has taken up the post jointly funded by Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde Police, added: "In the last year, reports of racism to police have gone down, and it is believed this has been a result of the higher criminal penalties involved.
"We hope by encouraging housing associations to record these statistics, we will be able to paint a more accurate picture of incidents and highlight the most vulnerable areas which will allow us to target resources."
The action by Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations (GWOSF) comes after police launched new ways for victims and witnesses to report incidents on a new online system.
Anyone who thinks that their race, gender, religion, sexual preference or disability has been a motivating factor in a crime can now report it online to speed up the reporting process.
The force say this makes it easier and less intimidating for victims to report crimes.
The online form can be completed either by the victim, witness or by staff at a third party reporting centre on their behalf and it can be done anonymously.
The form will be passed on to the relevant police division.
Remote reporting already exists and is usually done through a partnership of relevant specialist agencies. It offers victims and witnesses of hate crime the chance to report incidents confidentially.
Assistant Chief Constable Hamish Cormack, for Community Safety and Criminal Justice for Strathclyde Police, said: "I am aware that crimes of this nature can go unreported as some people may not want to visit a police office or speak to a police officer. No one should suffer hate crime.
"Most people have access to computers. The online system is another tool to encourage people to contact the police."
Visit www.strathclyde.police.uk
