DARLINGTON Citizens Advice Bureau and the town’s neighbourhood inspector and MP are urging people to report race hate crime in the borough.

The call comes ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Monday (March 21) which aims to remind people of racism’s negative consequences.

Darlington Citizens Advice has recently become a hate crime reporting centre and the charity’s chief executive, Neeraj Sharma, said: “We all have the right to live free from violence, harassment or hostility, but over the years we have seen how devastating hate incidents can be to individuals, families and the wider community.”

A hate crime can be anything from assault, to name-calling, harassment and blackmail motivated by prejudice over a person’s religion, disability, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity.

Mr Sharma said: “We want people to feel able to come in and tell us about any hate incident they experience or witness, no matter how minor it might seem.

“Hate incidents are a form of discrimination and can be a consequence or underlying cause of other problems for which people need advice.”

Caroline Dawson, Darlington’s Neighbourhood Inspector, added: “Anything that helps people feel easier about reporting hate crime and hate-related incidents is beneficial.

“People often feel intimidated about coming into a police station so that is where the Citizens Advice office comes in.

“People are used to using the services of Citizens Advice Darlington, so may find it easier to report incidents via their offices.

“In Darlington, which is a very diverse community, there has been a four per cent reduction in hate-related incidents in the past 12-months and we have noticed that people are more confident about telling us what is going on.”

In 2014/15, there were 465 incidents of hate crime recorded by Durham Police, an increase of 31 incidents from the previous year.

The majority were related to race and sexual orientation, with 258 incidents of race and 54 incidents of sexual orientation.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said: “It’s extremely important that people report any form of hate crime so it can be properly investigated and dealt with and being able to do so at the Citizens Advice Bureau in the town centre is excellent news.”

Dave Dove, hate crime lead for Durham Police urged people to use the various methods available to report hate crime.