South East Cornwall Police will be holding a special advice session in Liskeard today as part of a Cornwall-wide initiative to tackle hate crime.

All week (October 10-14, police in Cornwall and partner agencies will be supporting Hate Crime Awareness Week by holding dedicated events and activities across the county.

Neighbourhood policing teams will be holding stands in St Austell, Bodmin and Liskeard Community Hospitals today, from 10am-3pm.

The week of action aims to raise awareness of Hate Crime and how to recognise it.  It also aims to provide the opportunity for the public to talk to police and support agencies and build people’s trust and confidence so the reporting of hate crime rises and people feel encouraged to seek help.

During the week, ‘one stop pop up’ events will be held in all major towns across Cornwall where representatives from the police and support agencies will be on hand to answer people’s questions.  Police diversity and youth intervention teams will be at workshops and careers fairs to meet young people.

The campaign will also be supported by the distribution of leaflets and posters, and messages will be circulated across police and partner agencies’ social media accounts.

PC Colin Gameson, East Cornwall Diversity Officer said: ’Hate Crime Awareness Week is a great opportunity for us to raise awareness about this type of crime.  

’We want to improve people’s confidence in reporting hate crime and make sure they know what help and support is available within Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 

’We have worked very closely with Cornwall Council and Cornwall Fire Service and have planned a dedicated week of events which allows us directly to engage with members of the public to ensure the information reaches them. We will also have the opportunity to raise awareness to a younger audience with the schools and youth events we have planned.’  

’Hate crime can have a devastating effect on people’s lives and must not be tolerated, so the more information and awareness raising we can do, the more people will feel supported and have the confidence to report the crime.’

Cornwall Schools Career Events take place on Wednesday and Thursday, and in a joint collaboration between the police diversity team and youth intervention team, activities will focus on raising awareness of hate crime and a workshop studying Ane Frank and the Holocaust of the World War Two era.

An exhibition of art, photography, poetry and essays submitted by students from schools in East Cornwall who were involved in Holocaust awareness sessions will be held at Bodmin Police Station on Friday (October 14), 10am-3pm.

For more information about these events and the awareness week, please follow @ciosdiversity on Twitter.