Victims of hate crimes urged to report experiences to gardaí

Victims of crimes motivated by hate are being encouraged to report their experiences to gardaí to help improve data gathering and policing responses to such offences.

Sergeant Dermot Delaney, from the Garda National Diversity and Integration Unit, said people who report a hate-based offence to gardaí will be encouraged to make a formal statement, but gardaí will “talk through options” and the decision is ultimately “with the victim”.

“We want people to make statements and we want to carry that through to the court. We are looking to prosecute people for these crimes,” he said. However, Sgt Delaney said reporting such crimes, even if formal statements do not follow, help inform the Garda’s reporting system and “feeds into our policing responses”.

“You might encounter an issue and you might decide you don’t want to tell us about it, but then maybe somebody else encounters that individual a week later and there is an opportunity missed,” he said.

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Sgt Delaney was speaking at a webinar on hate crime hosted by Dublin Lord Mayor Hazel Chu, who said she has reported a “good bit of” hate offences she has experienced as the target of racial abuse and said gardaí have been “very good at following up”.

True number

“I know everyone thinks: Is it worth reporting? Is something going to be done?” she said. Ms Chu urged people to report their experiences so the true number of hate crimes can be recorded.

“The data that is being gathered means there is more of a reflection of what is happening in society. Being able to have that data is crucial in actually pushing the conversations and getting something done,” she said, adding that a lack of statistics lead to people believing the issue is not as prevalent as it is in reality.

Ireland does not have any specific legislation that deals with hate crime, but the Garda now defines it as “any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to, in whole or in part, be motivated by hostility or prejudice, based on actual or perceived age, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender”. New criminal legislation that deals with hate-based offences is currently under development.

Sergeant Geraldine Greene, also working within the Diversity and Integration Unit, said new initiatives have been rolled out to make it easier for people to report hate crimes, including an online reporting system. She said this can be helpful for younger people or people who may wish to report a crime anonymously. Sgt Greene said the Garda welcomes the 13 per cent increase in reports of hate crime as a signal that there is a “level of confidence” in the organisation’s ability to deal with these offences.

Sgt Green also spoke about hate crime training being rolled out which will be mandatory for every member of An Garda Síochána. It comes on foot of a full review of the organisation’s diversity training initiatives carried out by external independent experts, she said.

Training

“The actual hate crime training is probably one of the biggest things that we have undertaken,” she said, adding that it is particularly aimed at understanding diverse and minority communities.

She said gardaí will also participate in diversity and cultural awareness training.

“There is a lot of work to be done in educating our members from call takers through to investigators and prosecutors, and all of this is covered in the training,” she said.

Asked about diversity within the force itself, Assistant Garda Commissioner Paula Hilman, said the Garda is committed to ensuring it is “representative of the community here in Ireland”. Noting that around 17 per cent of the population is now non-white Irish, she said the organisation must look at outreach initiatives to encourage people from “all diverse groups across society” to apply to An Garda Síochána when application reopen.