Third Party Reporting Centres

It is widely accepted that hate crimes are under reported. Not all victims are comfortable with reporting their experiences directly to the police.

Possible reasons for this may include:

Lack of awareness of ways to report hate crime
Victims find visiting police stations intimidating or daunting
Victims believe the police won’t believe them or take them seriously
Individuals are unaware they are victims of hate crimes
Lack of support to help victims make a report, e.g. interpreters
Victims fear being outed in terms of their sexuality or disability

Third Party Reporting Centres (TPRCs) overcome these barriers by providing an alternative to directly reporting to the police, without which a number of hate incidents and crimes would never be reported or recorded.

List of Third Party Reporting Centres

Background

TPRCs emerged following the public inquiry into the police handling of the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence in April 1993. The inquiry led by Sir William Macpherson produced a detailed report (the Macpherson Report) in 1998 which made a number of recommendations. In relation to TPRCs the most important was recommendation 16:

“That all possible steps should be taken by Police Services at local level in consultation with local Government and other agencies and local communities to encourage the reporting of racist incidents and crimes. This should include:

the ability to report at locations other than police stations; and
the ability to report 24 hours a day”

Despite the recommendation only specifically mentioning racist incidents and crimes, TPRCs have evolved and victims of any hate crime can report their experience at the centres.

In addition to being places where victims can report their experiences, TPRCs may also provide additional support to the victim or help signpost them to other agencies to get further specialised support.