Scottish police launch campaign against hate

Police will attempt to focus the public’s attention specifically on religious hate crime for a week from September 7, and consulted with Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (ScoJeC) to find victims of antisemitic abuse.

ScoJeC director Ephraim Borowski welcomed the campaign, and said people in the community were “pretty happy with how the police are dealing with these things.

“We don’t have a lot to complain about, either about the police, the Crown Office or the courts.”

Hate victim Debby Taylor, who lives in a rural part of Scotland, said she and her son had been subjected to a series of attacks from a student at his school.

She said: “The Jewish community should be working together with the police, as we cannot understand how much antisemitism there is unless people report incidents.

“This campaign will encourage people to do that. If the police have a high-profile campaign saying they’re willing to work with a variety of communities on hate crime, people will report things.”