Congleton Pride has become a Reporting Centre for Cheshire Constabulary to report and support victims of hate crime.

Congleton Pride members held meetings with Cheshire Constabulary recently to get trained in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and other non-confirming gender/sexuality (LGBTQI+) people from Congleton to feel confident in reporting hate crime.

In a survey conducted by the Congleton Pride charity, 63% of LGBTQI+ respondents reported experiencing some harassment or abuse in Congleton but almost two-thirds had not reported an incident to the Police.

This is either because they didn't know how to or because they thought nothing would be done.

Congleton Pride takes place late this summer, so the new partnership has been welcomed with open arms. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

Now the Congleton Pride team has become a Reporting Centre, qualified to support anyone who has been subjected to hate crime or abuse and help them report it to the police, if they wish to.

Anyone at a Pride event can approach a member of the team and have a private chat about what happened, then the Pride representative can help them decide what to do next.

Inspector Jim Adams of Congleton & Sandbach Local Policing Unit said "Experience has shown that some victims of hate crime are reluctant to come forward, but we really do encourage reporting, so that we can continue to take action against people who commit these offences.

"Even anonymous complaints allow us to build up a body of intelligence against repeat perpetrators, so it is imperative victims contact us. I'm grateful to Congleton Pride for agreeing to take this on for our community".

This does not change the fact that in an emergency to dial 999 or to report to local Police in a non-emergency call 101. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

Pride Chair Ronan Clayton added "Many of us have been subjected to abuse in the past, and it is always good to have someone to share these experiences with, even if it doesn't always end up as a police matter. We are determined to make Congleton a safer place for LGBTQI+ people, so helping them get support and justice when these crimes are committed is an important part of what Pride is about."

Kay Wesley, a Pride Trustee and Congleton Town Councillor, commented "The team is now trained to support victims of any type of hate crime, including disability, race, or religion, as well as LGBTQI+. I hope people will feel comfortable coming to talk to us, knowing that we are trained to give the right support with regard to reporting hate incidents".

Anyone who has been subjected to LGBTQ+ abuse or any other hate crime can report it at this webpage.

This will will then be routed to Cheshire Police for follow up.

Congleton Police Station is located on Brunswick Street. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

The next Congleton Pride event takes place in July.

Congleton Pride Trust formed in 2018 to help LGBTQ+ individuals in Congleton feel safer in expressing their sexual orientation and gender identity, and to help the community as a whole understand LGBTQ+ and stamp out prejudice.

Congleton's first centre Pride event was in July 2019, the second was August 2021.

The next takes place on Saturday July 23, 2022.

Find out more info on the Congleton Pride website.

Or you can join their group on Facebook. Follow them on Instagram.

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