How to report a hate crime

Hate incidents are any events where you or another person perceive the event to be motivated by prejudice towards a particular group who are protected from such prejudice being directed at them.

For example, let’s say you and/or a member of your family are verbally or physically attacked or your property is damaged/destroyed. Do you believe you were abused because of your colour or ethnic identity? Then this is a racist hate crime. A racist hate crime is any offence that has been aggravated by racist prejudice against a protected group, for example someone from an ethnic minority background.

Everyone has the right to live safely and without fear.

If you (or someone you know) have experienced or witnessed a hate incident or hate crime, you can report it to the police. Read this page to find out how you can report a hate incident or crime in Scotland.

How to report a hate incident or hate crime

You can report it directly to the police, by going to a local police station, or contacting them by telephone. You should do this for any serious incident. If it is an emergency, call 999.
It is also possible to contact the police using the online form on the Police Scotland website.
You can get help reporting a hate incident or hate crime.

Reporting directly to the police

You should report a serious incident directly to the police by visiting your local police station or by phone.

To report an incident to the police by phone, call 101 or Textphone 18001 101. If it’s an emergency you should call 999.
There is a list of all the local police stations in Scotland on the Scottish police website.

When you report the incident you should ask for the incident reference number. This will help you in any further dealings with the police.

Reporting online

You can report a hate incident or non-urgent crime on the Police Scotland website. Once you’ve filled in the form on the website, it’s sent directly to the police force.

It’s important to give as many details as possible. This helps the police deal with your case more effectively. If you want the police to investigate the incident, you need to provide your contact details and the best time to contact you.

If you are reporting the incident on behalf of someone else this is called Third Party Reporting and you will be asked to declare this on the form.

If you are worried about the police contacting you at home you can ask the police to contact you through someone you trust and who has agreed to provide their details. You still need to provide your contact details as well.

Useful information to include in your online form

The reporting form tells you what information you need to give the police when reporting the hate crime. Here are some additional tips on useful information to include:

How you were attacked
If you know it, the identity of the attacker and where they live or, alternatively, what the attacker looked like and/or what they were wearing
What, if anything, was said by the attacker, particularly anything insulting about you
Why else you regard the attack as having been prejudiced against you
If you have been attacked before, when and by whom
Where the attack was made
When the attack was made (date and time of day or night)
The nature of any injuries sustained. It might be helpful to obtain medical evidence
If anyone else was attacked
The names and addresses of any witnesses.

When describing the offender it’s useful to give general information such as age, height, build, gender, ethnicity and clothing. Also try to remember any particular features such as:

Hair colour
Glasses
Jewellery or piercing
Tattoos
Facial hair
A particular accent
Teeth
Scars
Birth marks.

If a vehicle was involved, in addition to the make, model and colour, you may have noticed if it had stickers, sun shades or child car seats. Did the car look old or new? Did it have any other marks or signs of damage?

If the incident involved damage to property, you should describe the damage or loss as well as the costs involved if possible. You can also take photos of the damage to show the police.

If you need help reporting a hate incident or hate crime

If you don’t want to report the incident yourself, you can ask someone else to phone the police on your behalf, such as a friend or relative. This is called Third Party Reporting.
If you need help and advice, you can contact Positive Action in Housing.
You can also contact a Citizens Advice Bureau to help you phone the police.
If you have difficulty speaking or understanding English, you may find it helpful to have an interpreter with you. You can ask the police to provide an interpreter and the police must provide you with one to help you understand the criminal investigation. If the police refuse to provide an interpreter or you are not happy with the way the service was provided, you can make a complaint.

If you are unhappy with the police response to your report

You might be convinced that the behaviour you want to report to the police is definitely a hate incident based on prejudice and motivated by ill-will. In the course of dealing with your complaint you may be concerned that the police are not taking seriously your assessment of the incident as a hate incident.

If you are very unhappy with the way the police handled the situation when you were trying to report hate crime or a hate incident you can make a complaint. In some cases you might feel you were discriminated against because of the type of report you were making. You can complain about:

Staff behaviour
Quality of service.

There is a standard online complaints form that you can use to make your complaint.

Last updated 15 May 2025