VICTIMS of hate crime on a Richmond Housing Partnership estate near Whitton who are too scared or reluctant to go to the police may soon benefit from a pioneering new scheme to encourage those living in fear to come forward.

The Edgar Road Estate, just inside the borough, is home to around 400 families, 50 estimated to be Asian and 20 from other minority groups.

Tensions on the estate have revolved around racial differences, and police chiefs based in Twickenham admit there is a problem with under reporting of hate crime, including race hate, domestic violence and homophobia. Only two alleged incidents of this type have been reported to the police this year, despite rumours that much more is happening.

Gangs of youths, many of whom may not be residents, are allegedly drinking, taking drugs and targeting ethnic minorities. Eggs have been thrown at residents’ houses and schoolchildren have been verbally abused.

Community intelligence officer Deborah Zanetti told the Times: "I know there are things going on. I have no reports of incidents happening, but I just hear rumours they are. I keep hearing it third or fourth hand."

She felt residents were either scared of reprisals, or just didn’t understand the system: "My job is to encourage people to come forward because if they don’t tell me about it I can’t do anything. We are in a process of trying to gain their confidence and trust.

"We can impose bail conditions, we can keep people in custody. We won’t go knocking on their door in full uniform if they make a complaint.

"It’s the fear of intimidation, and the perception they may be intimidated. But we have powers and there is legislation in place that means we can protect them."

A ‘Third Party Reporting’ scheme was set up in conjunction with landlords, the Richmond Housing Partnership, at the community centre on the estate, but the response from residents proved to be disappointing, partly because the centre is a focal point for many of the gangs causing problems.

In a further unprecedented effort to get more people to come forward, police now hope to enlist two residents, not attached to any organisation, to act as a go-between between them and victims of hate crime.

Sergeant Mark Cranwell, co-ordinator of the scheme, said it had not been tried before: "Nobody else in the Met has done this. It’s early days, we need to establish the level of risk and the facilities they will be using. The two people involved are very keen to make a difference. They’ve got young kids and they realise that life would be miserable if things go on as they are."

DI Teresa Defanis emphasised that no definite plans had been laid yet: "We are exploring all these avenues. We’ve tried and we’ve realised that we’re not getting the response so now we’re looking for alternative methods. We are still in the really early stages."

It is still not clear how residents could contact the two volunteers. DI Defanis continued: "It hangs on a lot of factors. The community centre was the obvious place to set up the scheme, but clearly people are reluctant to go there because that’s where youths are seen to hang out."

While there is no guarantee yet that this pioneering initiative will go ahead, there are still many options for victims of hate crime.

A police surgery operates from the community centre, 3pm to 5pm, and Whitton Library, noon to 2pm on alternate Thursdays. The next surgery will be at the library on October 30. Call 8247 5816 for more details.

Officer Zanetti also plans to deliver an information package on reporting crime to every house on the estate, and have an officer visit every address to ask about problems.

A spokeswoman for Richmond Housing Partnership commented: "There have been problems of ongoing anti-social behaviour at this estate, including low level racial abuse and other forms of harassment. The group aims to improve the quality of life for residents and promote a strong, sustainable community."

She said they were now looking at possibly installing CCTV, improved lighting and traffic calming measures.