Manchester Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership

A definition of a racist incident is: A racist incident is that which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.

If you wish to report a racist incident, you can call in complete confidence on free phone 08000 830 007.

The report line

The race and hate crime report line is an initial contact service available to any resident or visitor to the city of Manchester who may wish to report hate crime or an incident. This could be an incident that has happened to you or an incident that you witness. You may want to take further action and involve the police or merely report the incident so that the City Council knows what is happening and can direct services to reduce crimes. You will not be asked to do anything you don't want to do.

When you call

When you call, friendly trained staff will ask you to explain what happened in your own words. They won't ask you for anything you are not comfortable with. You will then be given a unique reference number for your complaint so that you can get an update simply by calling the contact number. The calls usually last around five minutes and are free from any landline.

The kind of incidents you should report

All incidents where you feel you have been treated differently due to your race, religion, gender or disability or where you have witnessed this happening to someone else. It doesn't have to be physical violence. It could be verbal abuse, physical abuse, threats of violence, hate mail, text messaging or nuisance behaviour.

The next step

When you report the incident, the call staff will ask you if you are happy for them to record the incident. They will not record anything you are not happy with. It may be that you are simply passing on information to make us aware of the incident. This will help us to identify where there may be an underlying problem in the area and therefore what we need to do to address it. On the other hand you may want the police to be informed. Either way, whatever happens next is up to you.

Your personal details

You don't have to give your details at all. If you want the matter taken further then we will ask you for a contact number so we can let you know what has happened. This could be with a friend or relative. We will only do things that you are happy and comfortable with.

If the incident you report is linked to the Council and any of its employees we are able to follow up the complaint, which can be monitored electronically. That means your complaint is checked by the system to ensure that the correct person is taking the necessary action on your behalf. More importantly, we are able to update the information on the database to make sure you are informed of any developments when you call the report line.

If you have asked for the incident to be dealt with by an agency other than the Council, then the reports are forwarded to Greater Manchester Police Hate Crime Unit and Manchester Council for Community Relations. In all cases you will be asked what action you would like to take, if at any point you wish to withdraw a complaint then you may do so with one call.

We can help you

The Crime and Disorder team has access to community alarms and a warden service. We can also provide community training to organisations locally and ultimately information can be used by Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council Neighbour Nuisance Strategy Team if the issue persists or requires timely intervention.

If you feel at anytime you may be in physical danger or that the matter is urgent, please call 999.