Report all racist incidents to help increase funding to fight hate crime – Alliance

Alliance Vice Chair, Cllr Michael Long, has called on everyone to report racist incidents to ensure that more funding is allocated to fight racism. If all racist incidents were reported, then the full extent of the problem could seen and police could devote more funding to combating racism. His comment come as Alliance demanded that police name and shame the paramilitary groups that are carrying out racist attacks.

Castlereagh Alliance Councillor, Michael Long said: “I would strongly encourage anyone who sees or is a victim of a racist hate crime to report it to police immediately. If all racist incidents were recorded by police then more funding could be put towards stopping racism.

“At the moment, many victims and witnesses of racist hate crimes may be too afraid to report these incidents, therefore we are not seeing the full picture.

“The cancer of racism which is wrecking our society must be eradicated as soon as possible.

“Immigrants have enriched our society both economically and culturally. They play an active role in our society and bring cultural diversity to a society which needs to embrace other traditions.

“Recent reports have indicated that no-one has been convicted of committing a racist hate crime since the laws were introduced in September 2004.”

ENDS