PCC Matt Storey’s Commitment to tackle Hate Crime in Cleveland

Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey spoke about his plans to tackle and raise awareness of Hate Crime in his area.

Transcript

00:00What I want to try and do is bring together organisations locally, the councils, my office and the police

00:06and work together to try and tackle hate crime. It's an agenda that's really important to me

00:10and it was a big part of my campaign.

00:13And what I'd like to do is make sure that we tackle hate crime in our communities, particularly after the recent riots.

00:20What I hope it will do is make people feel safer.

00:22I want to make sure that no matter who you are, you shouldn't be discriminated against

00:27and shouldn't have any prejudice against you because of your race, your gender, your sexual orientation.

00:32I want to make sure that people feel safe and that we tackle hate crime wherever we find it.

00:37Discrimination and prejudice are really offensive and appalling

00:41and it's upsetting for people who find that they are treated differently because of who they are

00:47and we need to make sure that people in Cleveland feel that they can live their lives free from that discrimination

00:54and that's something that I've wanted to do as PCC and I intend to carry it out over the next four years.

01:01Matt was elected as Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland in May of this year.

01:05His role is to ensure effective and efficient work is carried out by Cleveland Police

01:10and it's his responsibility to set the force's priorities in the Police and Crime Plan

01:14that represents the views of his community, which includes his commitment to tackle hate crime.

01:19Well, I think we can always do more. It's certainly a priority of mine and it'll be contained in my Police and Crime Plan

01:27so the strategy for the force will have hate crime as part of it

01:32but what I would like to see the force do more of is have dedicated officers for hate crime specifically

01:38and make sure that they focus on hate crime in a really meaningful way.

01:42I think it's really important that the force reflects the communities that it serves

01:46and it needs to look and feel like the communities that it serves as well.

01:49So the more diverse the force can be, the better it is and it'll make people feel more trusting of it

01:57and have more confidence in it as we go forward.