£32k post to tackle hate crime

A permanent Hate Crime Officer post to tackle racism and homophobia is being created in one Black Country borough, costing taxpayers up to £32,000.

A previous post focusing purely on racism became vacant in 2008 but council officials in Dudley want the new role to tackle the "wider hate crime agenda", listing factors such as age, disability, gender and sexuality as well as race.

The Tory-led council says there has been a "big increase" in British National Party activity in the borough and hope the officer will combat instances of racist, sexist and homophobic abuse. However they say the creation of the post is unrelated to proliferation of BNP propaganda.

Lead member for community safety Conservative Councillor Anne Millward said the officer would work with police to offer support to victims of hate crimes. They would also deal with complaints reported separately to the council.

And the officer would also work with culprits caught committing hate crimes to encourage them to enroll on courses such as anger management classes to prevent them reoffending.

Councillor Millward welcomed the expansion of the role to include crimes which were not race related.

"It makes sense to have one person dealing with these issues rather than three or four," she said.

"If we can break the cycle of abuse in the first place it means someone else is not going to get a beating or suffer name-calling.

"We have got a big increase in BNP activity at the moment, especially in Dudley North, with leaflets and inflammatory literature being distributed.

"We want to live in harmony, we have had enough trouble with tension over the mosque. Dudley is one of the best areas in the country to live.

"We have one of the lowest crime rates and hopefully this will help keep it that way."

The new post is expected to be rubber-stamped on March 26.

The salary will be between £22,001 and £31,920.