RESIDENTS can report hate crimes at three citizens’ advice bureaus across the county in a new pilot scheme.

Sussex Police has teamed up with the Citizens Advice Bureau in a pilot that will see the three sites in Chichester, Bognor and Littlehampton becoming Hate Incident Reporting Centres.

The new service is in response to recommendations in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence murder for forces to offer people an alternative to police stations to report crime and part of Sussex Police’s continuing drive to increase the awareness and reporting of hate crime.

Advice staff have been involved in three awareness sessions to train them up covering what a hate crime is, how to report a hate crime, what happens after the report has been made and the input victims have in that process..

Sergeant Peter Allan, the force’s first dedicated hate crime sergeant, said that the training will help staff to detect when clients might be the victim of hate crimes.

He gave the example of staff talking to a resident talking about disability benefits which might lead to the resident disclosing they are having a problem with a neighbour.

They will be able to record that with them there and then as a victim of hate crime if that is what the customer wants.

Sergeant Allan said: "I am keen that victims of hate crime have as many means of reporting hate crime as possible."

Carol Groves, chief executive of the Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice Bureau, said: " I am really pleased that our staff will be attending these sessions so that they can better support our clients.

“Client queries cover many different topics and I'm sure some of them involve hate crime."