Greater Manchester Police join IDAHO support against hate crime and homophobia
Great Manchester Police raised the flag against homophobia and transphobia yesterday.
GMP took down their own flag and instead raised the internationally recognised rainbow flag during the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).
By swapping the flags GMP hope to encourage people to report incidents in a bid to end homophobia and transphobia.
It also marks their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Greater Manchester.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett said: “We want everyone in our county to be able to go about their legal business in safety and free from the fear of crime.
“Supporting events like IDAHO helps to show LGBT communities that we take their concerns seriously and are committed to robustly tackling hate crime against them.”
IDAHO takes place every year on May 17 to mark the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
IDAHO comes just days after Greater Manchester Police opened a new Third Party Reporting Centre, a place to report hate crimes, in Stockport.
The new Third Party Reporting Centre is located within Disability Stockport, a volunteer organisation supporting people with disabilities.
Many centres have been set up across Greater Manchester in public buildings such as community centres, council offices and coffee shops.
They provide an informal environment for members of minority communities to report hate crimes while taking away the need for a victim to visit a police station or have a visible police presence attend their home.
Staff are trained and receive full support from police.
Hate crime is under reported by many vulnerable communities and is defined as any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by an offender’s hatred towards someone because of their race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.
The centres also report hate incidents, which are identified as hate crimes, but as perceived crimes.
To find your local third party reporting centre, visit www.gmp.police.uk
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Really great article :)
Really great article :)
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