AN EVENT designed to raise awareness of hate crime has been praised by Basingstoke's MP.

Maria Miller attended an event hosted by Citizens Advice Basingstoke to raise awareness of hate crime, and the group's role as a hate crime third party reporting centre.

Representatives of an array of organisations attended, including Basingstoke Multicultural Forum, the Nepalese Society, Mencap, Housing Associations, Basingstoke College Of Technology and Queen Mary's College. Basingstoke police, the police and crime commissioner’s office and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s community safety team were also represented.

The Citizens Advice team gave a presentation on the forms that hate crime can take, which includes social media, and also set out how victims can report hate crime to Citizens Advice, located in the Discovery Centre, if they do not want to report to the police.

Victims can also report online and can report anonymously.

Mrs Miller said: “Hate crimes are under-reported for a number of reasons, but getting more people to report them is extremely important as it can help the police understand the extent of hate crime in the local area and respond to it, and could help to prevent such incidents happening to someone else.”

“This was a really useful briefing and discussion, organised by Basingstoke Citizens Advice, helping to build awareness of hate crimes and how they can be reported and dealt with. Having third party reporting centres like the CAB plays an important role in making it easier for people to report hate crime, and it is good to see that the Police and Crime Commissioner has helped Citizens Advice across Hampshire to take on this role.”