Reporting a hate crime or hate incident to the police

Summary

You can report it by phone or at your local police station. When you report it, ask for the incident reference number. You’ll need this if you want to contact the police about the crime again. To find your nearest police station, use the local police force finder on the police’s website. To report it to the police by phone, call 101. If you can’t hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say using Relay UK. To use Relay UK, dial 18001 then 101. You can use Relay UK with an app or a textphone. There’s no extra charge to use it. Find out how to use Relay UK on their website. If you don’t want to contact the police, you can ask someone else to report it for you, like a friend or family member. You can also ask an independent organisation to report it to the police for you. These are known as ‘third party reporting centres’. Your report will be anonymous and confidential. Find out more about third party reporting. The police must record something as a hate incident if you believe it was caused by prejudice or hostility against you: It doesn’t matter if the police don’t agree it’s a hate incident. You don’t have to show evidence of prejudice or hostility to report.

Key information

• •because of your race or religion
• •because you’re transgender
• •give you an incident reference number - you can use this when you want to contact them about your case
• •ask you for a statement and investigate the hate incident if they think a crime has happened
• •ask if you want to be contacted by Victim Support
• •bring a friend or family member
• •ask a local advice organisation, like Citizens Advice
• •ask the police to provide an interpreter
• •give you advice about applying for compensation - even if the police haven’t caught the offender
• •give you updates about what’s happening with your case
• •ask for your feedback about how they handled your case
• •When you report it, ask for the incident reference number. You’ll need this if you want to contact the police about the crime again.

Practical guidance

• •Source: [Reporting a hate crime or hate incident to the police](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/hate-crime/how-to-report-a-hate-incident-or-hate-crime/)

Related topics