May 2, 2001 15:28: Racist crimes are being tackled head-on in a new initiative which hopes to empower the local community to stand up in the fight against hate crime.
On Thursday last week, Hounslow Racial Equality Council (HREC) demonstrated its determination to wipe out racial harassment in the borough by launching Third Party Reporting Centres.
The decision to open the centres follows a successful pilot project which has been running in 13 community agencies across the borough over the past year, which enabled victims and concerned people to report racial incidents at community centres in their area.
Over 100 people, including Hounslow Mayor Cllr Devinder Sandhu and Ann Keen, MP for Brentford and Isleworth, attended the launch at the Gurdawa Sikh Temple, Alice Way, Hounslow.
HREC director Satvinder Buttar says he thinks the centres will encourage more people to report racist crimes: "I think it will be very beneficial. It creates great awareness in the community and people know there are agencies who can help them and provide them with support.
"It is empowering the community to tackle racism and feel as if they are part of the solution. Every centre will have dedicated staff who will have had full training and will be able to point them in the right direction."
Tim Jackson, Police Superintendent for Hounslow, says that race crimes are now a Metropolitan Police priority. "It was not before, but we are making that right," he said.
Inspector Sheryl Burden of the diversity directorate at New Scotland Yard agrees that it's time to change.
She said: "We have to change mindsets. At present you go into a police station and report a crime and the police come to your home and so on.
"People can feel embarrassed by this or feel that their crime is not that important and could be wasting police time. The value of schemes like this is that it breaks down that barrier and gives people another option which is essential if we want to crack down on these types of crimes."
The 13 pilot agencies will now remain open as 3rd Party Reporting Centres but this figure is expected to double within the next six months.
For further information contact the HREC on 020 8583 2525.