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Safe

Hate crimes

Are you worried someone in your family is involved in hate crime?

If your brother, sister or another family member is involved in hate crime in any of its forms, you might be mixed up in it yourself. Or perhaps you are experiencing what it's like living in a scary and uncomfortable environment.

You should take action to stop it as soon as possible before something serious happens.

Why are they doing it?

  • Perhaps they are involved in bullying.
  • Perhaps they don't understand the significance of targeting someone who might be different to them.
  • Perhaps they're being encouraged by other people to get involved.

If you do think it's linked to bullying take a look at our dedicated section. Either get the facts about bullying, or for more info on how you can actually help them visit ‘Are you worried someone in your family is involved in bullying?’

Whatever the case, they need to understand that what they are doing is wrong. Only then will they realise they must stop.

What can you do?

If you think they will listen, encourage them to talk to someone:

  • another family member, a family friend or some other adult they can trust
  • if it's your brother or sister, maybe they could talk to their teacher
  • someone professional at a helpline like ChildLine or maybe a CyberMentor (see below for more details)

If you don't think they'll listen to you, don't risk it; talk to someone yourself.

Report it

Perhaps you feel you need to report it, even if you know someone in your family will get into trouble. It's better that they get into trouble now than get into more serious trouble later:

Reporting a member of your family may be a difficult thing to do, but the effects of any form of hate crime on the victim can be extremely serious. You could be helping someone who might be suffering from:

  • constant fear and anxiety
  • depression
  • stress and related problems

Our Community Safety Units

The Metropolitan Police Service has made it a high priority to tackle hate crime in all its forms with specialist Community Safety Units located in each of our 32 boroughs. We investigate all hate crime, even in cases where there is only a small amount of information or when a victim has not reported it personally.

Find out more about how we're tackling hate crime on the main Metropolitan Police website

Getting more help

ChildLine
ChildLine is the free helpline for children and young people in the UK, Children and young people can call 0800 1111 to talk about any problem.

CyberMentors
CyberMentors is all about young people helping and supporting each other online.

If you're being bullied or are troubled by something, CyberMentors is where you can go for help.

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