Combating Intolerance in Bedfordshire

CVS - Mid & North Beds is a member of the Bedfordshire Hate Crime Partnership that campaigns against all forms of harassment. You can report any harassment you may suffer at www.report-it.org.uk

Bedfordshire Hate Crime Partnership (formerly the Tell Us Campaign) is part of the national True Vision initiative, which aims to combat hate crime through Race, Religion (i.e. Islamophobia), Sexuality (i.e. Homophobia), Age & Disability

Report Hate Crime, by downloading:

The True Vision Reporting Form

The above documents have been produced as a Word Document. To download the document – simply hold your cursor over the name of the document (above), click the right button on your mouse and then choose ‘save target as’, and choose where you want to save the file on your hard drive (usually 'My Documents').

You may email this form to truevision@fsmail.net

Or post to TRUE VISION Co-ordinating team, 36 Mill Street, Bedford, MK40 3HD

For further information telephone 01234 340728

Racial Harassment

True Vision is a national campaign aimed at encouraging people to report incidents of racial harassment. By reporting incidents, local authorities, the police and community groups can:  

• Give help, advice and support to anyone suffering racial harassment
• Tackle racial harassment head on.
• Take action against offenders.
• Monitor and assess the level and nature of racial incidents in Bedfordshire

If you have been a victim of any kind of racial harassment including, threats or insults, racist humour (both written and verbal) a personal attack, property damage, REPORT IT. Only by being aware of racist incidents can the relevant authorities do something about it.

All reported incidents remain strictly confidential, plus free advice and guidance is offered.

Contact Bedford Race Equality Council (BREC), if you would like to report an incident, please call (01234) 350459 or email: tellus@fsmail.net.

For more information on Bedford Race Equality Council, go to www.bedfordrec.org 

Homophobic Harassment

Bedfordshire Police has targeted hate Crimes such as racism and homophobia in an effort to bring a better quality of life to members of minority communities. One such initiative is the introduction of gay and lesbian liaison officers (also known as Community Investigators) based in each division who liaise with other agencies to provide members of the gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered communities (GLBT) with a way to report hate crimes and offer support to victims of hate crimes. In addition to the liaison officers, all serving police officers in Bedfordshire have attended an awareness course relating specifically to issues affecting the GLBT community. To provide the best service to all members of our community we rely on the support of everyone, and the reporting of ALL hate crimes (telephone 01234 84 28 27), no matter how trivial you think the incident may have been, to assist us in providing adequate resources and officers. When you are the victim of any crime, you may feel alone, that no one cares or even that it was your fault or you were to blame in some way. This isn't true, as Bedfordshire Police want to help you. Only by reporting crime can the police do anything to try and stop it happening again, not only to you but to other people as well. There are many support groups willing to help including Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, the Terrence Higgins Trust and Victim Support to name a few. The first step is to tell someone - it doesn't have to be the police. You can talk with Outreach Worker Doug Stow, or someone at a local gay venue. If you do go to a police station, you can ask to talk to a gay liaison (Community Investigator) officer who will help you with your report and put you in contact with someone to offer you support and help. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call Bedfordshire Police on 01234 842827. If you feel threatened, or you are in possible danger of attack, please dial 999.

You can report a homophobic incident online, by visiting www.bedfordshire.police.uk and by following the on screen links to the reporting page. All the information you supply is held in strict confidence and will not be passed on to anyone.

Listed below are the Gay Communities Liaison (Community Investigators) Officers for Bedfordshire Police and how to contact them.

Greyfriars Police Station, BEDFORD
Greyfriars, Bedford. MK40 1HR

Telephone 01234 271212 Ext 5361

Luton Police Station, LUTON
Buxton Road, Luton. LU1 1SD

Telephone 01582 401212 Ext 4268

For more details of the Gay & Lesbian Scene in Bedfordshire, go to www.gay-bedfordshire.co.uk or to either www.bproud.org or www.bproud.org.uk

Report Hate Crime at:

www.report-it.org.uk