'It's something I can't forget': Wiltshire officer on hate crime

Escort Officer Hassan Seggari has been speaking out about being the victim of hate crime

Victims of hate crime have spoken out as Wiltshire Police has urged people to report it.

The force said the national rate for hate crime convictions is at 67%, but the county's most recent figures for September show it at 75%.

"We can't tackle it without people reporting offences like that," said Escort Officer Hassan Seggari, who has shared his story for hate crime awareness week.

The force said they had "a zero-tolerance approach" to hate crime.

Speaking in a Wiltshire Police video, Mr Seggari explained he was transporting a detainee who became abusive: "He said he would put a gun at my head and shoot me himself.

"And all that to do with my skin and my religion, and I don't why.

"I never had anybody like him. It's something I can't forget.

"The reason to report hate crime is to combat all these people who think it's ok to abuse anybody."

Chief Inspector Gill Hughes has said the force has a 'zero tolerance' approach to hate crime

The force has also anonymously shared the experience of a custody officer who has been racially abused multiple times.

He said it left him feeling "deflated, upset, targeted".

One experience with a detainee involved a racial slur, followed by him hearing: "I don't want to see that, I don't want to speak to that."

The custody officer said: "It shocked me that that was the first thing he said having looked at me."

"He kept shouting it from the cell."

There were 57 hate crimes reported in Wiltshire in September, more than 40 of which were recorded as racially motivated.

Chief Inspector Gill Hughes, the hate crime lead for Wiltshire Police, wants to encourage people to make reports.

"No one should be attacked for who they are," she said.

"All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and we will do all we can to investigate reports and ensure those who carry out these acts are appropriately dealt with."