Disability hate crimes highest in West Yorkshire

Monday, 15 October 2018 16:00

Disability hate crimes have increased by two thirds in West Yorkshire over the last year according to new police figures obtained by the charity United Response.

The figures were obtained ahead of this year’s National Hate Crime Awareness Week, which runs until Saturday 20 October.

A total of 536 disability hate crimes were recorded in the region in 2017-18, the highest number of recorded offences from police forces who responded to the information request.

Nearly half of these were classified as ‘public order offences’ – more than any other single type of crime and up exponentially from the year before. This includes public fear, alarm or distress.

Cases of arson and criminal damage doubled in 2017-18, while instances of ‘violence against a person’ remained high and soared by 60%. These crimes include assault, harassment, stalking and malicious communications towards a person.

The disability charity United Response is now training its staff and other organisations to help people with physical and learning disabilities, Down’s syndrome and autism recognise the signs of hate crimes and know how to report them.

Joanne Silkstone, United Response hate crime lead, said: “It beggars belief that that there are people out there who are targeting some of West Yorkshire’s most vulnerable people and doing them harm.

“This is unacceptable and we all must do everything we can to empower those who suffer this type of appalling abuse and discrimination to speak out.

“Victims must know that they need not suffer in silence. With the right tools, we can help them to report these crimes to the police when they do experience hate crimes.”

United Response says West Yorkshire Police have helped compile new training resources for the charity’s staff who work directly with people with disabilities, to help people identify whether they have been a victim of hate crime.

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