Every year hundreds of rapes and thousands of attacks on Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals and Transgender people go unreported. Many do not feel safe or happy reporting crimes to the Police.

A homophobic or transphobic crime is one that you believe has happened because you are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender. Some people don't report these crimes because they don't think they are serious enough or because they don't believe the imformation is important.

However, if homophobic and transphobic crimes are not reported, no one knows they are occuring. This makes it very difficult to tackle the problem in the borough, even though new measures exist to take action against perpetrators, including Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).

Camden LGBT Forum works to improve the services that members of LGBT communities get from organisations in the borough. Improving services from the police is a key part of this.

This page contains information on reporting hate crimes either directly to the police, or to Camden LGBT Forum, who will treat your information in confidence.

REPORTING A CRIME TO THE POLICE
By working with Camden Police, Camden LGBT Forum has been able to set up a specific phone line for reporting homophobic and transphobic crime.

The phone line goes directly to the Community Safety Unit of Camden Borough Police in Holborn. The Police Community Safety Unit (CSU) is a group of specially trained Detectives who will investigate all allegations of hate crime.

The phone line is staffed by Detectives who are trained to deal with hate crimes and will treat your case seriously and in confidence. All hate crime will be investigated.

In order to tackle these crimes, all incidents need to be reported. Even if there is no chance of catching the perpetrators, the intelligence you provide can prevent other people becoming victims.

The Police Unit exists in order to be supportive. If you find this not to be the case, you can contact the Forum.

If you're a victim of hate crime, report it. Call the LGBT Crime and Information Hotline on 0800 328 2509.

REPORTING A CRIME WITHOUT INVOLVING THE POLICE
We recognise that some people do not want or do not feel safe talking to the police; even police working in Community Safety Units (CSUs).

We have produced a method of reporting crimes so that the the police do not have to be involved. By using our non-police reporting form, you can tell us when and where crimes are happening. If you ask us to, we will also pass the information about your crime to anonymously to the police.

You can complete a version of the form online. For further information, click here.

If you're the victim of a homophobic or transphobic crime, don't let it go unnoticed.