UK: LGF launch new hate crime reporting app
The Manchester-based Lesbian and Gay Foundation has launched a new web app to help people report hate crimes anonymously.
The web app lgf.org.uk/report was launched today to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and is intended to make sure that hate incidents do not go unreported.
It was developed after research by the group and Greater Manchester Police found that 62% of people who experience a hate crime do not report it.
Darren Knight, LGF’s Head of Policy and Engagement, said: “With around 215,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGB&T) people living in Greater Manchester – which is equivalent to a population the size of Rochdale – when 50% of those people experience a hate crime and 62% of those people don’t report it then something really needs to be done and changes have to be made.
“We need to make sure hate is challenged, tackled and eradicated.
“Every day we continue to provide advice, information and support to people who are bullied, who have been terrorised, who live in fear or need specific support as a result of the discrimination that they’ve faced for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans.
“We are trying to do what can, to improve the number of people who come forward, and to make it as easy as possible for people to come forward because we think that every single incident of hate crime should be reported.”
Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: “We’re rightly proud that Britain is now an equal country, but of course prejudice still exists.
“We need to make it as easy as possible for people who have been the victim of a hate crime to report it, and this new web-app designed by The Lesbian and Gay Foundation is an excellent tool to build confidence.”
The hate crime reporting web app can be found at lgf.org.uk/report. In an emergency, always call 999.
