SCOTLAND'S first DVD highlighting hate crime and its effects has been launched in Fife.
'Reporting Hate Crime', a project by Fife Community Safety Partnership, was introduced at the Rothes Halls last week.
The DVD has been produced for community groups and staff to raise awareness of different types of hate crime, and how victims can
be better supported.
It is hoped the film will encourage people to come forward, as hate crime can often go unreported.
The production highlights Fife's approach, building on an award-winning joint reporting system for racial incidents which has been in operation for a decade.
Co-hosting the event, Fife Police superintendent Ian Bease said: "Whether verbal abuse, physical assault, vandalism or offensive graffiti, hate crime is unacceptable and causes damage and concern to Fife's communities. We know it happens, but is often not reported.
"By encouraging people to report incidents, providing tailored support and advice to victims, and dealing with perpetrators, we aim to tackle this problem so no-one has to tolerate crime motivated by prejudice or hate, whether on the basis of age, disability, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation."
He added: "We take reports seriously and treat them in confidence, sharing information securely with the agencies that are best placed to help."
Colm Wilson of FRAE Fife said the current system in place for reporting hate crime in the region provided a very good service, however, for a range of reasons, incidents still go unreported.
He said: "We have dealt with a lot of shopkeepers who have suffered from racial abuse. Many of them accept it as a part and parcel of the job, and therefore will not necessarily come forward to report every incident."
He said abuse was often perpetrated by young people, often as a result of ignorance or lack of understanding.
"When we go into schools children are extremely interested in learning about other people and cultures, so if we educate them it makes a difference."
Mr Wilson said the new DVD would also make a useful educational tool to promote the consequences of hate crime among Fife's young people.
