Opposition has been voiced to plans being developed by the Mayor of London for a hate-crime hotline in the capital.
The Guardian claimed internal emails from Boris Johnson’s office revealed he was planning to introduce a phone number for Jewish, Muslim and LGBT Londoners to report abuse.
But groups including Tell Mama, which records Islamophobia; and LGBT charity Galop, said a new line would overlap with existing numbers and cause unnecessary dilution of recording hate crimes.
Richard Benson, former Community Security Trust chief executive and now co-chair of Tell Mama, told the newspaper: “It is quite clear that communities feel more comfortable when they are victims of a hate crime to report the issue to somebody within that community who understands them.
“That’s why the CST and Tell Mama have both been successful in providing a level of support to their communities, but to have a one-stop shop that covers every single community will be confusing and, secondly, will dilute the existing successful work currently carried out by those groups.”
It is claimed the hotline could be launched in October during the Hate Crime Awareness Week. A spokesman in Mr Johnson’s office said the line was necessary because hate crime was “significantly under-reported”.
CST said it could not comment on Mr Johnson's plan.
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