Reported a racial harassment to police but now being afraid

Recently, a PhD student from another lab, who is supervised by one of the PG heads of my department, racially abused me. In discussion with the student conduct team, they advised me that the incident constituted hate crime and suggested me reporting to police.

I did and an officer will come to my home to take statements soon, but am now afraid that the PG heads of my department would coerce me into retracting my police report by any means as the situation is complicated by the fact that I am on academic probation due to a series of mistreatment by them that caused me to fail a progress review.

Should I raise this to the officer who would come soon? And if they do try coercing me, can it be reported as perverting the course of justice?

P.S. It is also possible that the police would not bother to investigate

I've never had anything like this happen to me in an academic environment, so I'm sorry you had to endure that (I have had racist abuse, just not within a University setting). If they were smart enough to get into Uni, you'd think they'd at least have the common sense to keep their mouth shut about that sort of thing.

I'm also a bit surprised that the conduct team advised you to report it to the police straight away, as i would have expected them to try and deal with the incident themselves (I mean internally, there must be a policy for this kind of thing?)



Why do you think they heads would coerce you into retracting your statement? Is it that they wouldn't want the publicity; is the PhD student very popular / influential? Or is it simply worry / paranoia? Whether or not you're on probation is completely irrelevant and shouldn't make a difference. If you're a victim of a crime, then you're a victim; end of!




Whether or not it could be considered as "perverting the course of justice" depends on what they threaten you with, and again whether or not you can prove it (in the UK, you are innocent until proven guilty) f. If it's a whole department behind this, they may know how to cover their tracks; especially if they've had similar situations before.



It depends on how much evidence you've got, what exactly was said to you, and the surrounding circumstances (i.e. was it "out of the blue" or the climax of a long-standing tension between you and this other person). If you can prove what was said (e.g. you have a recording or independent witnesses), then it MIGHT lead to something. However, if you don't have any of the above, then realistically all they can do is invite this person for an interview to give their side of the story, and it'll be documented and that will be that (if they admit it, then they may receive a police caution).

You don't have to go into detail, but the link below gives you a guide as to what you can plausibly expect, if the police & CPS were to pursue your complaint to the full extent of the law.

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/harassment-stalking-racially-or-religiously-aggravated-harassment-stalking/

I know it is surprising, but they do say they won't start the internal process until they receive knowledge of the student being approached by police or else.

That is strange... it's just the sort of thing that I would've thought a University would want to keep internal; for everyone's sake really. The only exception I can see is if they want to make a big deal to everyone that racism will not be tolerated.

If that's their official policy, then I can't see how they can coerce you into withdrawing your statement. It sounds incredibly dodgy if they do... especially the potential backlash if you were, say, to post all this on Social Media (OSLT).

Police came last night and took a statement. They said the person would be arrested and interviewed and I was shocked since this isn't what I expect they would do - I thought they would simply drop the person a warning.

I was kind of anxious while giving my statement since that was the first time I had police in my flat, so I am kind of afraid they would suspect me of something.

TBF, given the reputation for racism the police force has (in general), maybe they want to be visibly seen to be taking such allegations very seriously, to avoid any adverse publicity. The backlash of the Stephen Lawrence case shows how badly this can go for them if it's not managed properly (there are still ripples of this today, despite the incident happening 30 years ago).



Just make sure all your weed paraphernalia is hidden, and you'll be fine

Seriously, you're the victim here, so unless there were some obvious incriminating items / evidence around, they're not going to suspect anything. In addition, being interviewed at your place saves the inconvenience of travelling to a police station and waiting ages to be seen / processed; besides, most people will be more comfortable talking about sensitive things in an environment they're familiar with (being interviewed in a police environment can be somewhat uncomfortable / intimidating for anyone).

Although he may be arrested, realistically, I can't see the person getting anything more than a police caution. Granted, it's not the same as being sent to prison for 20 years, but it DOES mean he has a police record of this, that will show up on certain background checks (e.g. those required for medical, teaching, care etc.). They may or may not be affected, depending on what field they work in and / or choose to go in. Furthermore, if they're ever accused of something similar in the future, this will make it far more likely the CPS will pursue a court case (that should be a big deterrent for them to ever do anything like this again).

That is strange... it's just the sort of thing that I would've thought a University would want to keep internal; for everyone's sake really. The only exception I can see is if they want to make a big deal to everyone that racism will not be tolerated.

If that's their official policy, then I can't see how they can coerce you into withdrawing your statement. It sounds incredibly dodgy if they do... especially the potential backlash if you were, say, to post all this on Social Media (OSLT).

Nah, it's because it constitutes a hate crime. If there is a hint of student or staff conduct breaking the law then we are duty bound to involve police ourselves or have the victim report to police (at least, this is how it should work in every case where there is a suspicion of the law being broken). If it was a simple case of bullying then it'd be internal. This is the procedure now at basically every institution in the country.

If they couldn't find enough evidence, what would be the end result? What if the accused person denied any interactions with me (the racial abuse happened in a location without footage cameras)? Would I be suspected of not telling the truth alike?

Nah, it's because it constitutes a hate crime. If there is a hint of student or staff conduct breaking the law then we are duty bound to involve police ourselves or have the victim report to police (at least, this is how it should work in every case where there is a suspicion of the law being broken). If it was a simple case of bullying then it'd be internal. This is the procedure now at basically every institution in the country.

Unless they can prove you've lied or were dishonest about it, it would just come down to your word against his (i.e. who's more trustworthy). If they've been arrested, then they'll probably have a duty solicitor who will fight in their corner; however it would still be documented on police records that they were arrested for this offence; even if they were released without charge. I don't think it would show up on anything but the most stringent of police / criminal checks... but it would definitely work against them if they were accused of anything similar in the future (or have been in the past).

On the other hand, if they were only asked to voluntarily attend a police interview to give their side of the story, then they may well get off scot free.



I wasn't aware we were duty-bound to report incidents to the police, so thank you for that. Is that specifically for hate crimes or any crime in general?

Is it also common that faculty staff would pressure a student victim into retracting their statement that they see as harmful to any one of them?

'Common', no. But at the end of the day these are people, and some people do stupid things.

Do they normally suffer consequences for doing so?

Do they normally suffer consequences for doing so?

I guess it's the same with all these kind of things... depends on how much evidence is against them, how well they can cover their tracks, and of course how determined someone is to see them get their comeuppance.

Also, if either party has "friends in high places" this can make a big difference /influence either way.