Crusade calls for improved police response for hate crime victims with learning difficulties

The borough’s branch of a national charity has set about helping people with learning difficulties who have suffered at the hands of hate crime by calling on an improved response from police.

Last week, Chief Superintendent Matthew Gardiner, Brent Police borough commander, attended the Mencap offices in High Road, Willesden, to show his support to the campaign.

The campaign, called Stand by Me is a three-year initiative implemented by Mencap and is focused on improving the response from both police and the criminal justice system to recorded incidents of hate crime against people with learning difficulties.

The scheme was launched in June this year and in Brent alone 1,124 residents have signed a petition pledging their support.

Mencap works in partnership with people who suffer from learning offering them support to live the life they choose.

Ian Niven, a project worker with Mencap, said the event was important in terms of highlighting the issue.

He said: “It was good to have the borough commander there which I think enforced the importance of what we are campaigning for.

“It’s important to raise awareness of the campaign and for people to learn that it is still a problem.”