THE country's first conference aimed at tackling hate crime will be hosted by Wiltshire Police on Thursday.

The spotlight on hate crime comes amid a rise in racially aggravated offences since the Brexit vote.

The event will bring together police, local authorities and community organisations for the first time to raise awareness, encourage reporting and prevent hate crimes happening.

Organised on behalf of the Wiltshire and Swindon Hate Crime Group, around 70 delegates are expected to attend the event in Trowbridge.

The conference is one of hundreds of awareness events across the country to mark National Hate Crime Awareness Week, which runs until Tuesday and aims to bring organisations together with communities to form a united front in cracking down on hate crime.

Angus Macpherson, Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, who also chairs the Hate Crime Group, will introduce the conference on Thursday.

He said: “We must put victims at the heart of our response to hate crime, listen to their experiences, build trust in the police and make it easier for people to come forward to report it, by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency.

“If you don’t have the confidence to tell the police, you can go to other organisations such as True Vision where you can report online and get useful help and advice.”

Speakers at Thursday’s conference include Dr Nathan Hall, a leading academic in hate studies and Associate Head of the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth, who will talk about the national picture. Other contributors include the Crown Prosecution Service, Wiltshire & Swindon Users Network and members of the Wiltshire & Swindon Hate Crime Group.

Wiltshire Police has seen a steady increase in reported hate crime, in line with the national trend reported by the Home Office.

In the last four years, offences classified as hate crime in Wiltshire and Swindon - race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender – have risen from 0.9 per cent of all crimes reported in 2013, to 1.3 per cent in 2017.

In common with other parts of the country, Wiltshire experienced a spike in hate crime after the EU Referendum in June 2016. This was followed by a reduction, then a slight increase in reporting during May, June and July 2017, which may be attributed to recent terror attacks.

The biggest increase in reported hate crime so far this year was racial crime, which rose from 20 incidents reported in the first three months of the year, to 36 between June and August 2017.

Superintendent Sue Austin, who leads on hate crime for Wiltshire Police said: “As a force, we report around 41,000 total crimes per year, of which hate crime reporting accounts for less than 600 cases.

"This may be a small proportion, but our message is clear - all hate crime is unacceptable and we want people to have the confidence to tell someone so that it can be investigated and offenders brought to justice.”

Currently Wiltshire Police has a small team of officers trained as hate crime advisors to give advice and support to hate crime victims.

This will be boosted to 30 trained officers by the end of the year - from this autumn all new PCSOs will be trained to take on this additional duty when they join the force.