GEE Walker, mother of murdered teenager Anthony, has met police to see how they are tackling race hate crimes following her son’s death.
Before Anthony’s murder in July, 2005, police knew they had a problem with ‘hate crime’ – targeting people because of their race, age, sexuality, disability – but the seeds were only put into place for a dedicated unit after the 18-year-old was killed.
Six special ‘Sigma’ teams were launched in February, one in each of Merseyside Police’s divisions, and Mrs Walker went along to Huyton Police Station yesterday to see what was being done in her area firsthand.
Mrs Walker said: “Hate crime is a disease and the sooner it is dealt with, the better for all of us. I don’t see why we all can’t just live together.
“Hate crime leaves people cowering behind their sofas and afraid to walk down the street and I am so pleased this unit has been set up to deal with issues before they grow.
“We need to stop other families being sat here with the pain we feel every day.”
As well as dedicated hate crime detectives, each team has a hate incident co-ordinator, who gives guidance about the best way to deal with incidents, and interpreters are on hand for those who do not speak English, or are hearing or visually impaired.
Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe said: “Following on from the awful death of Anthony, we started to look at how we investigate hate crime and what we can do before it gets to murder.
“We noticed people from minority groups were less happy with the way we dealt with incidents and were less inclined to report them.
“But the number meant less than the impact hate crime has on people. Those who commit these crimes are bullies who pick on people because they think they can get away with it.
“They target people over things the victim has no control over – age, sex, religion, colour - but our new units will put these people before the courts.”
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