Visiting students and other members of Nottingham’s Chinese Community are being reminded of how the police can help them.
Working in partnership with the city’s universities, Nottinghamshire Police has produced two short Chinese language videos designed to break down barriers and encourage reporting of hate incidents.
The videos, recorded by Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking officers, are designed to inform viewers about the true nature of British policing and the many different ways officers can help them.
In the weeks and months ahead, they will be repeatedly shared on social media and in other formats by Nottinghamshire Police, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham.
Chief Inspector James Walker, hate crime lead for Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Whilst hate crime offences against Chinese-speaking residents and visitors to our city are thankfully rare, we have known for some time that we could and should be doing more to engage with them.
“These videos are part of a wider campaign that to speak more directly to members of this audience and I am thankful to Sergeant Aaron Chen and PC Man Wong for taking the time to help us with this project.
“By producing this content in Mandarin and Cantonese respectively we are able to speak directly not only to members of our student population but also to members of the Chinese community who long ago chose to make their homes in our city and county.”
Hate crimes are criminal offences perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.
Offences can range in nature from name-calling and verbal abuse to more serious acts of violence.
Nottinghamshire Police encourages victims to contact them immediately either in person, by phone or online.
Sergeant Aaron Chen, a response officer in Nottingham for the last ten years, said:
“In recent years Nottingham has become a second home to a large number of students from China, where the approach to policing – and therefore people’s attitude to police officers – can be very different from here in the UK.
“By taking part in these videos I wanted to get across to people that the police in the UK are here to help them with whatever problems they may have and that they should not be afraid of us.
“When people fall victim to offences of whatever nature we want to here from them, and can be contacted over the phone, online and in person.”
Sara Baldwin, Director of Student Support Services at Nottingham Trent University, said:
“This is a fantastic resource that we will be using as part of our support for Chinese-speaking students to make them aware not only of help available on campus but within the wider city. Our thanks go to Nottinghamshire Police for taking the time to produce this video which will go a long way to reassuring our Chinese-speaking community.”
Jamie Dickinson, Community Engagement Manager at the University of Nottingham, said:
“We recognise that there are challenges for our international students when moving to a new country for their studies.
“It is really important to ensure all of our students feel safe and supported whilst in Nottingham. We have worked closely with and are supporting this excellent initiative by Notts Police which looks to build trust and offer reassurance and support to our Chinese-speaking community.”
Nottinghamshire Police recently launched the ‘Take Aim at Hate’ campaign, which focuses on raising awareness of hate and encouraging victims of hate abuse to report it to the police.
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