■ The Council of Europe has long worked to raise awareness of targeted violence including racist, religious, gender based, homophobic and transphobic crime. Key Council of Europe resolutions and recommendations by the Committee of Ministers, as well as the Parliamentary Assembly, recognise the speci c harm and impact of discrimination and crimes against LGBTIQ persons, as well as the importance of supporting victims, cooperat- ing with civil society and training law enforcement and other criminal justice practitioners. Case law of the European Court of Human Rights is unequivocal about the importance of ‘unmasking’ hate motivation and homophobic motivation and warns of the consequences of failing to do so: “prejudice-motivated crimes would unavoidably be treated on an equal footing with ordinary cases without such overtones, and the resultant indi erence would be tantamount to o cial acquiescence to or even connivance with hate crimes.”

■ This manual is designed for police trainers, investigators, managers, hate crime o cers and frontline police o cers working in countries across the Council of Europe region. Its purpose is to provide assistance, information and the appropriate tools for conducting trainings on hate crime against LGBTIQ persons. It builds on Council of Europe standards, especially on the European Convention on Human Rights and the relevant case law from the European Court of Human Rights, as well as other international human rights standards and already existing training materials for law enforcement o cials.

■ This manual is based on a human rights approach and informed by expert input. Above all it is victim and community-focused, in recognition that their con dence in law enforcement and cooperation is key to the success of investigations of these crimes.

■ Police training is only one element in a comprehensive approach to tackling hate crime. Police recording systems should allow all aspects of hate crime against LGBTIQ persons to be recorded, and good investigative practice should be supported by o cial protocols and guidelines. As a key partner of the police, the prosecution service should also undergo training so that successful and fair hate crime prosecutions can be prepared and brought. Finally, political leadership that recognises the specic harm caused by hate crimes against LGBTIQ persons and that commits itself to resourcing the full implementation of this training must also be in place.