AN initiative has been launched to tackle the number of "hate-related" crimes in York.

City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police have teamed up with other local organisations to set up York's Hate Incident Strategy, which ultimately hopes to reduce or even eliminate hate incidents in York.

The organisations worked together to come up with a strategy for tackling hate crime, which was unveiled at the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate.

In leaflets produced to support the initiative, a hate incident is described as "a criminal offence or incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate".

Terry Collins, the council's director of Neighbourhood Services, said: "Hate crimes are something that will not be tolerated in this city.

"This strategy will help provide support and advice for people who suffer hate crimes and encourage them to report it, so that we all can work together to bring the offenders to justice and prevent it happening again."

Chief Supt Iain Spittal, of York Police, said: "If you go just on statistics and reported incidents, the frequency of the incidents in York is very low.

"Of course, this relies upon individuals telling us as an organisation, turning to us for help and advice - something that victims of hate are often afraid to do.

"That is why this strategy is so important. We hope that it sends out a very strong message to all who live in or visit York that we as individual organisations and as a partnership will not tolerate such incidents and aim to create an environment where those who are subjected to hate incidents feel able and confident to report them."

Hate incidents can include offensive language or verbal abuse, offensive graffiti or literature, physical attack, damage to property, arson and continuous malicious allegations.

They are motivated by race, language, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender or age.

Organisations involved in the strategy include City of York Council, North Yorkshire Police, Safer York Partnership, Yorkshire MESMAC (a sexual health charity for gay and bisexual men), York Racial Equality Network, North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust, York Crown Prosecution Service and the Citizens' Advice Bureau.

The Lord Mayor of York, Coun Irene Waudby, opened the launch event yesterday and presentations were made by Chief Supt Spittal, Chris Hailey-Norris, director of the York and District Citizens Advice Bureau and Andrew Waller, chairman of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) forum.

A group called People First presented a short play about hate crime, highlighting its effect on victims.

Muslims in York said they were "crushed" when insulting graffiti was painted on the door of the mosque in Bull Lane in 2006 and have welcomed the new strategy.

Sheikh Zubair Ahmad, who runs the mosque, said: "We want peace in the community, and we want to be friends with everybody."

The new strategy aims to make it easier to report hate crime and to build up a more accurate picture of the type of incident.

The strategy also provides a framework for the way in which incidents can be best dealt with.


Bigoted views of minority'

Chief Superintendent Iain Spittal, York's crime commander, said: "Over the past 20 years as a police officer I have seen a number of instances of hate that have resulted in a significant impact to both individuals and groups of people.

"These have ranged from individuals recovering from minor injuries to an example here in York where a man was seriously injured. He and his family felt unable to remain here in York, they left and moved to a new city.

"Personally, I found all the incidents that I have seen to be sickening, and the last one I described to be very sad for the city.

"We need a vibrant, tolerant community where all who live or visit feel safe and not vulnerable to the bigoted views of the minority."