Solar system to fight hate crime

Residents told police during two hate crime summits in November and February that they were often too scared to report incidents, or did not trust the police.

Operation Solar has now been launched by South Yorkshire Police, allowing people to report hate crime anonymously or through community groups.

Last year there were 377 recorded incidents of hate crime in Rotherham.

Chief Insp Richard Butterworth said 85 per cent of hate crime in Rotherham was racially motivated, particularly targeted towards Asian people and taxi drivers, and occurred mainly in the town centre.

“We want to give victims the confidence to come forward and reassure Rotherham communities that hate crime of any form will not be tolerated,” he said.

Hate crime can include prejudice against someone’s disability, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexuality or transgender identity.

Mr Butterworth said hate crime in Rotherham was a pertinent issue in the aftermath of the Jay report and the significant failings of the authorities highlighted.

“We have had the racist murder last year (of Mushin Ahmed) and now 21 marches over the last two years, with another two coming up (including one by Pegida UK on June 4),” he said.

“Despite our best efforts to encourage those affected to call 101 or speak to police officers, sometimes people are worried about making a formal report.”

Now victims, witnesses or members of the public can send information about hate crimes to police on a new email address — [email protected].

The police will not contact the complainant direct if they do not give their details, but will use the information to “target and tackle” hate crime, by identifying hotspots and emerging trends, co-ordinating police activity and running covert investigations, including filming offences to capture evidence.

The operation will also make use of its community advocates, like REMA (Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance), Rotherham United and Victim Support, where people can also report incidents to community group leaders instead of going to the police

“We have made a lot of changes about how we collect information and this is not being done anywhere else in the country,” said Mr Butterworth.

“There is also a dedicated Operation Solar officer.”

Mr Butterworth added: “If it’s a friend or family member, something heard third-hand, we want that intelligence and we will respond to it.”

A recent example of a report the team received involved a pub where smokers outside were intimidating people, particularly Asian women.

“We have liaised with the licensee to move that smoking area and are taking action with the licensee about his responsibility to help tackle the issue,” he said.

Asylum seekers also used the email address to report that people were banging on their doors late at night shouting “go back to your own country”, Mr Butterworth said, which prompted night-time police patrols.

Council leader Cllr Chris Read, said: “We knew that the police and council needed to do something more to raise people’s confidence.

“We have already started to see the benefits of this work.”

Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, said: “Out of something rather bad here in Rotherham something really quite good has developed that may well be extended to other parts of the country.”