Isle communities urged by police to combat extremism

A national campaign aimed at bringing people from different communities together to demonstrate trust, integration and cohesion following attacks by extremists around Europe, is being supported by Humberside Police.

The “We Stand Together” campaign aims to help people celebrate their differences, unite communities against hate and intolerance and help to build a safer and stronger United Kingdom.

Chief Superintendent with Humberside Police, Tony Forbes said: “The tragic events that have happened across the globe in recent months, particularly incidents in Paris and Copenhagen, serve to reinforce the importance of strong relationships between the police service and all the communities we serve.

“This is something we have always done in Humberside and the “We Stand Together” Campaign, launched across the country on March 5 reaffirms that diversity and difference is a strength.

“We need to encourage local communities to stand together against prejudice and extremism.

“We stand together with all communities and all people targeted because of their race or religion.

“We stand together against all crimes motivated by hate and prejudice.

“We stand together for diversity and difference.

“As a police service we will engage, listen, reassure, feedback to communities and act on community concerns.”

He continued: “We encourage the reporting of hate crime. Hate crime is always a high priority in Humberside but at this time of heightened international threat we assess that it is critical that we are proactive in identifying and responding to crimes motivated by hostility due to religious or ethnic background.

“It is vital that our responses to hate crime reports meet the high standards that we aspire to and that the victims of hate crimes are satisfied with those responses.

“We will continue to work together with the communities that we serve to continue to make a difference.”