Violence, threats, harassment, verbal abuse and discrimination that result from a victim's perceived difference may be a criminal offence and is considered to be a 'hate crime'.

This perceived difference may be as a result of a victim's racial background, gender, religious, faith, disability or sexual orientation.

The council prioritises taking action to prevent all forms of hate crime and discriminatory incidents. We want everyone living, working or visiting Chesterfield to feel confident to report hate crime, harassment or discrimination incidents relating to our services to us.

All such incidents should be reported to us – no matter how small or whether it was verbal abuse or some other kind of incident. The council aims to give public encouragement to report incidents with support and protection for victims. Hate graffiti is removed within 24 hours.

We will monitor and respond to hate crimes and incidents.