You don’t have to go far these days to find hate and discrimination in all areas of our society, be it on the street, in the workplace, in schools, social areas and yes, even on the sports field. 

It is a myth that only certain people can be a victim of hate crime. We all can. The five protected characteristics covered by hate crime legislation; race, religious belief, disability, sexual orientation, and transgender identity, cover the entire population in one way or another. 

We want to encourage the wider community of Bradford to call out hate crime and hate incidents when they see it or are a victim of it, to help us to combat this awful crime which research shows has a much deeper psychological impact on victims than other crimes where their very identity is not being targeted. 

Bradford Hate Crime Alliance came into being in 2007, to help the local communities of Bradford to understand what hate crime is, and how they can report it. After the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, recommendations were made that hate crimes should be able to be reported via a third party at any time, 24 hours a day. 

We also support victims of hate crime, either through signposting, referrals, liaising with the police on their behalf, and importantly, listening to their lived experiences. One of the many reasons people don’t report hate crime is because they don’t think they will be believed. But with BHCA, you will be heard, understood, and supported whether you decide to pursue prosecution or not. 

To enable people to report as widely as possible, we now co-ordinate a network of 24 reporting centres across the Bradford District, encompassing all communities. To find out more details of who these organisations are and where you can find them, please visit our website.

Also on the site is our hate crime reporting tool. Here you can submit a report about something you have experienced, or witnessed, adding as much detail as possible. Here you can select to involve the police, or just us if you do not wish to pursue prosecution but just need someone to talk to.

We also operate a mobile reporting app, whereby you can report hate crime directly from your phone at any time and in any place, day or night. You can find out more about that here.

Many people face barriers when it comes to reporting hate crime and one of those is the fear of being identified and targeted as a result. So, it’s important to know that you can report anonymously, either on our website, or via the app, meaning that you’re doing the right thing in letting us know, but won’t be involved in anything you don’t want to be. 

The ‘Just Log It’ function on our app is designed for that specific purpose. If you’re at a match and hear something that you know is hate-related, then just log it. You can tell us where you were, at what time, what form of hate the incident involved, and submit it with no need to get involved any further than that. 

The purpose here is to let us know what is really going on. Between 60% and 80% of hate crimes go unreported, due to the many barriers people face in reporting hate crime. By just logging it, you alert us to what is happening, where and when. We in turn, can use that information to work with our own strategic partners, including West Yorkshire Police, to investigate hot spot areas and deploy resources appropriately where needed. 

No report is a wasted report. We do need to know what’s really going on and we need members of the public to be upstanders and help us to find out by reporting. If you are outside of the Bradford District when you witness something, there are other ways you may be able to report it. For Leeds and Wakefield, check out www.stophateuk.org, while if you’re out and about in Calderdale, then click here for more details. 

So please, wherever you witness a hate crime or incident, call it out by reporting it and be an upstander rather than a bystander in the fight against hate crime. Nobody deserves to be attacked just because they are who they are and we know that coming together as a local community and calling out hate crimes and incidents by reporting them, will go a long way to helping to eradicate hate crime from our society.