Mine - HEAR



|1. Disability Hate Crime MATTERS – nominated by Inclusion London |

|The ‘Disability Hate Crime MATTERS’ project is a partnership between Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). |

|It is focused on improving police officers response, identification and investigation of disability related hate crime in London. Each letter of the word |

|MATTERS aims to evoke action from the police to ensure that Deaf and Disabled people receive an appropriate response from the police. |

|The DHC Working Group has worked hard to ensure front line police officers record incidents as disability hate crime. This has resulted in the number of |

|hate crimes increasing hugely. The number of disability hate crimes recorded by the police in 2014 was approximately 120. In December 2016 the number of |

|disability hate crimes recorded by the MPS rose to nearly 800 due to the Disability Hate Crime MATTERS project. A dramatic impact! |

| |

|Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer, Head of Community Engagement for the Metropolitan Police |

|‘It has been very beneficial for our front-line supervisors to hear directly from deaf and disabled people’s organisations about the impact that |

|disability hate crime has on people and some of the reasons why prejudice and hostility are not always readily apparent. This improved understanding and |

|an increased focus on delivering a better service have undoubtedly led to an increase in recorded disability hate crime in London. This is a strong |

|foundation to build on for the future.’(more page 2) |

|2. Tower Hamlets Hate Crime Champions Project – nominated by Tower Hamlets Council |

|Tower Hamlets Hate Crime Champions Project recruits local volunteers to go out into the community utilising their unique skill set to ensure One Tower |

|Hamlets messages are far-reaching raising awareness on hate crime and increasing the local community’s confidence to report hate crime. |

|The Project is led by the borough’s hate crime strategic forum – Tower Hamlets No Place for Hate Forum (THNPFHF) which brings together key agencies Tower |

|Hamlets Council, Police, Housing Providers, Schools Health, Legal, Victim Support, Faith Organisations, local voluntary groups, the local LGBT Forum who |

|work together to tackle hate. |

|The project has recruited 71 champions reaching in excess of 50,000 people including hard-to-reach groups who often suffer in silence such as disabled |

|residents, Asian deaf women, refugees and newcomer communities, non-English speaking groups, and faith, gender, drug-user, LGBT and elderly communities. |

| |

|Shalina Akhtar, Hate Crime Champion |

|“As a Hate Crime Champion I know anyone can be a victim. I understand how life changing these experiences can be and how important it is to be believed |

|and supported. I am also a strong believer in obtaining justice and holding perpetrators to account. Therefore, I will use my role to be a voice for the |

|silenced and work tirelessly to empower victims to become survivors!” (more page 3) |

|3. User-Led Hate Crime Training – nominated by Barnet Metropolitan Police |

|Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Barnet and Inclusion Barnet have co-produced and co delivered Hate Crime training and information to services including |

|the Police, Barnet Council, Barnet Homes, Barnet College, Barnet Safeguarding Adults Board, Community Security Trust (CST), Royal Free London NHS |

|Foundation Trust, and Travelling Community Support Group. |

|Due to a lack of Hate Crime reporting, and specifically Disability Hate Crime, MPS Barnet and Inclusion Barnet aimed to increase Police understanding and |

|recognition of Disability Hate Crime and increase the confidence of the disabled community to report all Hate Crime. Training Police and services to |

|enable them to become third party reporting centres. |

|The project has trained over 300 Police officers from Emergency Response, Neighbourhood Policing and CID. From an average of 5 reports of Disability Hate |

|Crime per year, 2016 -37, 1st half 2017 - 16. This is a 700% increase! |

| |

|A/PS Michael Richards Disability Hate Crime Liaison Officer, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Barnet |

|“I am most proud of the relationship that we have been able to build between Inclusion Barnet and Barnet Police. Mahmuda, Michelle and their colleagues |

|from Inclusion, as well as from the variety of charitable support centres, have been an inspiration and have worked tirelessly to keep the momentum of the|

|project from its infancy in January 2016. The Borough of Barnet is in a significantly better place when it comes to recognition and understanding of all |

|Hate Crime and specifically Disability Hate Crime” |

|Police Officer who completed the training stated they now know “how to identify needs of disabled individuals and adjust approaches to effectively deliver|

|to their needs” (more page 4) |

|1. Who is involved in Disability Hate Crime MATTERS? |

|The ‘Disability Hate Crime MATTERS’ project involves a partnership between Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations and the Metropolitan Police Service |

|(MPS). It was launched in March 2016, although work had already started before this date (see link for more details). Anne Novis, (Independent Advisor to |

|the MPS and Inclusion London Trustee) and Ruth Bashall, (Director of Stay Safe East) have worked closely with the MPS to develop the project and have |

|driven its progress through the MPS Disability Hate Crime Working Group, which is chaired by Anne Novis. Other Deaf and Disabled people’s organisations |

|also attend the working group. |

| |

|Aim of the project |

|The project is focused on hate crime against Deaf and disabled people. However, Deaf and disabled people belong to all the equality groups, for instance |

|Deaf and disabled people can come from the LGBT and/or BAME communities and or be Muslim, Christian, Jewish or any other religion or be members of the |

|travellers and gypsy community. |

|The Disability Hate Crime MATTERS project is focused on improving police officers response, identification and investigation of disability related hate |

|crime in London. Each letter of the word MATTERS aims to evoke action from the police to ensure that Deaf and Disabled people receive an appropriate |

|response from the police when reporting an incident; that disability hate crimes are correctly identified and recorded and fully investigated. (See |

|details of the actions the word MATTERS evokes in the Met Police at the end of the form). The project also involves a series of briefings for Metropolitan|

|police officers and crime reporting centre staff by Anne Novis and Ruth Bashall to increase the understanding of disability hate crime. Each borough is |

|disseminating the briefings to frontline staff. Improving identification of disability hate crime. Disability Hate Crime has often not been recorded |

|correctly by the police. So the DHC Working Group has worked hard to ensure front line police officers record incidents as disability hate crime, when |

|appropriate. This has resulted in the number of hate crimes increasing hugely, (NB: Disability hate crime is classed as any criminal offence which is |

|perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability or perceived disability |

| |

|Tell us about the why you started this project and what it does |

|Disability hate crimes were often not identified as such by the front line police officers so they are then not recorded or investigated. This lack of |

|identification, recording and investigation of disability hate crime has had a serious impact, which includes: |

|There are few prosecutions of disability hate crime. |

|The judge is unable to increase the sentence if the crime is not flagged as a disability hate crime |

|the true numbers regarding of disability hate crime continue to remain hidden so the prevalence of disability hate crime continues to under acknowledged. |

|The low numbers of recorded disability hate crime could have an impact national government’s priorities and on the time and resources the MPS and other |

|agencies provides for it. It could also impact the funding made available to DDPOs to provide support to victims of disability hate crime. |

|However, an important aspect regarding the lack of identification, recording and investigation of disability hate crime by the MPS is that it has |

|seriously undermined Deaf and disabled people’s confidence in reporting to the police. A disability hate crime is a traumatic experience for Deaf and |

|disabled person and reporting a hate crime to the police can be upsetting to do. When the police officer who takes the initial report does not identify |

|and record the hate crime so there is no investigation the Deaf and disabled person feels their evidence is not respected and the seriousness of the |

|incident has not been understood, this can compound the upset felt when the offence took place and Deaf and Disabled people stop reporting disability hate|

|crime. |

|As Commander Mak Chishty, the Metropolitan Police Service’s Hate Crime lead when the project was launched: |

|“The extent and impact of disability hate crime is not always fully understood, even recognised by the victims of such behaviour or by those with the |

|responsibility for dealing with it. It is vital that we improve awareness to staff to ensure disability hate crime incidents are identified and recorded |

|appropriately at first contact. This is imperative if we are to improve the confidence of deaf and disabled people to report incidents to police and |

|protect them from harm.” |

| |

|Tell us what successes you have had and what has made you most proud |

|The number of disability hate crimes recorded by the police in 2014 was approximately 120. In December 2016 the number of disability hate crimes recorded|

|by the MPS rose to nearly 800 due to the Disability Hate Crime MATTERS project. A dramatic impact! |

|This rise is due to front line police correctly recording incidents as disability hate crime, (as mentioned above). |

| |

|Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer, Head of Community Engagement for the Metropolitan Police |

|‘It has been very beneficial for our front-line supervisors to hear directly from deaf and disabled people’s organisations about the impact that |

|disability hate crime has on people and some of the reasons why prejudice and hostility are not always readily apparent. This improved understanding and |

|an increased focus on delivering a better service have undoubtedly led to an increase in recorded disability hate crime in London. This is a strong |

|foundation to build on for the future.’ |

| |

|Anne Novis, Chair of the MPS Disability Hate Crime Work Group, Independent Advisor to the MPS on Disability Hate Crime, Inclusion London Chair |

|“I am very proud of working with the MPS, to develop this initiative which has helped to capture more reports of disability hate crime.” |

|“Officers are now better informed of how to capture deaf and disabled peoples experiences of hostility. As an Independent Advisor with the MPS I hope to |

|see even more developments as the MPS works together with deaf and disabled people’s organisations and victims, to continually and consistently improve |

|their services and responses to disability hate crime in London.” |

| |

|Disability Hate Crime MATTERS |

|The word MATTERS aims to provoke the following actions from the frontline Met Police officers |

|M – Must use Vulnerability Assessment Framework |

|A – Ask the right questions regarding targeting and hostility |

|T – Take Immediate Safeguarding action for those at risk |

|T – Think CRIS Flags via DA/Hate Crime on Gen screen |

|E – Ensure corroborative evidence is captured, e.g. CCTV |

|R – Record all perceived Disability Hate Incidents on CRIS not just Airspace if ASB related |

|S – Supervisor MUST be informed |

|2. Who is involved in Tower Hamlets Hate Crime Champions Project? |

|Tower Hamlets Hate Crime Champions Project recruits local volunteers to go out into the community utilising their unique skill set to ensure One Tower |

|Hamlets messages are far reaching. It empowers local people to play their part in promoting community cohesion by raising awareness on hate crime and |

|increasing the local community’s confidence to report hate crime. Our Hate crime champions are from diverse background and reflect the community that we |

|serve and come from a cross section of our communities including those from disability, faith/belief, LGBT, race/ethnicity, gender identity and different|

|age backgrounds. For example, one of our champions was able to deliver training in BSL to encourage reporting of disability hate crimes. |

|The Hate Crime Champions Project is led by the borough’s hate crime strategic forum – Tower Hamlets No Place for Hate Forum (THNPFHF) which brings |

|together key agencies to promote a co-ordinated response to hate crime that protects and supports victims, deters perpetrators, challenges prejudice and |

|hate and contributes to creating a safer, more cohesive community. It is a multi-agency Forum comprising Tower Hamlets Council, Police, Housing |

|Providers, Schools Health, Legal, Victim Support, Faith Organisations (the London Muslim Centre, Churches and local voluntary groups (ELOP) the local LGBT|

|Forum who work together to tackle hate, celebrate diversity and promote cohesion in a richly diverse borough. |

| |

|Tell us about the why you started this project and what it does |

|This project was started with the aims of; Increasing confidence of the local community to report hate crimes, Encouraging bystander action to send |

|messages that tackling hate crime can only be achieved by partnership working. Raising awareness of support mechanisms available to victims of hate, |

|consequences of perpetrating hate and the impact of hate on individuals and the community. Promoting community cohesion and peaceful co-existence among |

|different cultures in the borough |

|Challenging discriminatory behaviour in themselves and others. Celebrating diversity in a richly diverse borough. |

| |

|Tell us what successes you have had and what has made you most proud |

|Since the launch of the project in July 2007, we have recruited 71 champions who have delivered around 1000 training and public engagement activities, |

|reaching in excess of 50,000 people including hard-to-reach groups who often suffer in silence such as disabled residents, Asian deaf women, refugees and |

|newcomer communities, non-English speaking groups, and faith, gender, drug-user, LGBT and elderly communities. The Champions Project is linked to a |

|borough wide Campaign called the No Place for Hate: One Tower Hamlets Campaign which aims to send clear and consistent messages via a range of mediums |

|that prejudice and hate will not be tolerated. The range of mediums have included designing and disseminating leaflets, posters, bus stop adverts, social |

|media as well as front line outreach at public spaces. A ‘No Place for Hate Awareness Day’ held at Aldgate Hostel which houses over 150 clients both men |

|and women who have been rough sleepers, there had been some transphobic graffiti in the hostel targeting a transgender resident. The day was well |

|received, with many people showing dislike of the transphobia by another resident, and 50 people (staff and residents) signed up to the No Place for Hate |

|Pledge. LGBT History Month launch and the LGBT ‘Solidarity’ event (joined with Hackney Council) at St. Leonard’s Church. This church is in an area |

|bordering the two boroughs and the events, amongst other things, were aimed at decreasing the incidence of homophobia in this hotspot area. This also |

|encouraged cross borough partnership working ensuring more efficiency in way resources were utilised. Hate Crime Pledge/literature was made a core product|

|for distribution to everyone applying for an application pack from the LBTH registry office. This then enabled us to reach more people encouraging them to|

|not suffer in silence. Hate crime awareness piece in HARCA newsletter reaching 9500 residents which helped achieve our aim of Registered Social Landlords |

|taking more of an active stand towards supporting their residents. Training and outreach sessions on hate crime for service users at Age Concern (Appian |

|Court), Somali women’s event, young people’s events and to deaf women through sign language. This helped achieve our aims of working with under |

|represented groups at our Forums and in consultations. Hate Crime wall at Real where disabled service users would post their thoughts/feelings/experiences|

|relating to hate crime. This provided our disabled community with a platform for their voice to be heard and aimed to empower them to come forward if they|

|were victimised. Liaison, of one of our RSL based Champions’, with TSA (Tenant Services Authority) about new RSL guidelines, in order to ensure hate crime|

|issues are properly addressed in the guidance. This Champion has worked jointly with our other RSL Champion to develop and organise a free RSL training |

|programme around dealing with hate crime – inviting a representative from every RSL in the borough. No Place for Hate Briefing session as part of Swan’s |

|annual Diversity Day reaching 250 residents and staff. The day included talks about sexual orientation and gender identity, hate crime and a talk on |

|rethinking mental illness. No Place For Hate article in ‘Families Matter’ newsletter distributed in Schools, GP surgeries, Children’s Centres libraries |

|residents reaching approximately 9500 residents which was also made available online to reach further out. #LGBT History Month 2017 Celebration reaching |

|100 members of LGBT community which worked to address issues around islamphobia and homophobia links. Community Safety Roadshows which targeted local |

|residents, staff, students and visitors to borough and reached over 300 people with new signatories to the NPFH pledges. This aimed to reassure the |

|community that the Partnership will act on reports and made visible the Police and Council outreach. NPFH Bus stand campaign, this was twitted by a |

|champion on their organisations twitter account reaching approximately 3,000 people. Residents/Parents Engagement Day at Meath Garden Childrens Centre |

|reached 109 residents. What has made us very proud is that through this project we have successfully reached marginalised groups, Refugees/Newcomers, LGBT|

|community, Faith Groups, Disability Groups Young People, Faith & Non Faith Groups Women’s Groups , etc. We can truly say that this campaign and project |

|has had a positive role in bringing communities together and improved understanding, communications and respect between diverse communities in Tower |

|Hamlets. Our No Place For Hate Campaign/Champions project has also generated interest from other boroughs and campaigns locally and nationally as a model |

|of good practice which we have willingly shared. We are proud that it lends itself to the current No Place for Hate National Campaign as part of National |

|Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017. |

| |

|Local residents. Source: NPFH Evaluation Research 2014 |

|“So here in Tower Hamlets we get together, Muslim, Christians, Jews, any other religion, any other belief, you know, we come together as one family” “A |

|perfect world hub just a meeting of all these different sort of cultures and race and religion”. |

|Shalina Akhtar, Hate Crime Champion |

|“As a Hate Crime Champion I know anyone can be a victim. I understand how life changing these experiences can be and how important it is to be believed |

|and supported. I am also a strong believer in obtaining justice and holding perpetrators to account. Therefore, I will use my role to be a voice for the |

|silenced and work tirelessly to empower victims to become survivors!” |

|Anna Williams Hate Crime Champion |

|“I jumped at the chance of becoming a champion. I am hoping to draw on assistance from my fellow champions to represent the No Place for Hate Campaign at |

|some of our resident events and get as many colleagues and residents as possible to sign the No Place for Hate Pledge!” |

|3. Who is involved in this project delivering User-Led Hate Crime training in Barnet? |

|A/PS Michael Richards Disability Hate Crime Liaison Officer, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Barnet and Mahmuda Murshed and Michelle Burke from |

|Inclusion Barnet have co-produced and co-delivered Hate Crime training and information to services including Barnet Police, MPS Community Safety Service |

|Delivery Team, MPS Safer Transport Team Edgware, People’s Choice, Barnet Council, Barnet Homes, Barnet Mencap, Dimensions, Barnet College, Barnet |

|Safeguarding Adults Board, Community Security Trust (CST), Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Travelling Community Support Group, GALOP LGBT support |

|and Police liaison. |

| |

|Tell us about the why you started this project and what it does |

|The project was started due to lack of reporting in relation to all Hate and specifically Disability Hate Crime. In the 3 years between 2012-2105 there |

|were only 16 reported offences of DHC on a borough with a population of approximately 400,000 people. MPS Barnet together with Inclusion Barnet aimed to |

|increase the understanding and recognition of Hate Crime for Police officers and third parties. Other aims and successes include: |

|- increasing the confidence of the disabled community to report all Hate Crime directly to Police and provided an alternative means to report in order to |

|ensure better safeguarding. |

|- providing training for third party support services to enable them to become third part reporting centres |

|- improve primary and secondary investigations by Police officers whilst increasing the recognition and under reporting of Disability Hate Crime |

|- following throughout the Criminal Justice Process with support for victims leading to enhanced sentencing at court |

|- creating a consistent Third Party Reporting Form which is now used across all third party reporting centres. |

|- challenging the common issues and assumptions related to Disability Hate Crime |

| |

|Tell us what successes you have had and what has made you most proud |

|A/PS Michael Richards Disability Hate Crime Liaison Officer, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Barnet |

|“I am most proud of the relationship that we have been able to build between Inclusion Barnet and Barnet Police. Mahmuda, Michelle and their colleagues |

|from Inclusion, as well as from the variety of charitable support centres, have been an inspiration and have worked tirelessly to keep the momentum of the|

|project from its infancy in January 2016. The Borough of Barnet is in a significantly better place when it comes to recognition and understanding of all |

|Hate Crime and specifically Disability Hate Crime” |

| |

|Other successes include: |

|- In partnership with Michelle and Mahmuda from Inclusion Barnet we have trained over 300 Police officers on the borough to increase confidence and |

|awareness in Police officers across Emergency Response Teams, Neighbourhood Policing Teams and CID. The training is delivered in a fun, interactive and |

|informative way by Michelle and Mahmuda and has received overwhelming praise from all those who have attended. |

|- In the Calendar year 2016 we had 37 reports of DHC. This is a good increase from an average of 5 per year in the previous years. 16 reports in the first|

|half of 2017. This is a 700% increase! |

|- Hate Crime Reporting Launch Event held at the Stonegrove Centre on 10th October 2016 which was planned to coincide with National Hate Crime Week. |

|- At the aforementioned event a Hate Crime video featuring local people across the Hate Crime spectrum was premiered and is still available on YouTube. |

| |

|- Various third party services have been trained totalling well over 100 people. |

|- Police staff have been trained on Easy Read material and these are now more accessible across Barnet Borough |

| |

|The below are quotes received from Barnet Police Officers who have had the training. After the training, participants reported they would use their |

|knowledge to: |

| |

|“Ensure that hate crimes are reported properly and victims supported accordingly” |

|“Help raise awareness in schools” |

|“Provide a better service and more understanding to victims and suspects” |

|“Go into more detail when writing reports” |

|“Ask more questions at the point of initial contact to identify specific needs” |

|“Be more empathetic and patient” |

|“Do a CRIS more often” |

|“Better safeguard people with disabilities” |

|“Appropriately direct people with disabilities to other support agencies” |

|“Communicate more effectively and make use of Makaton and Easy Read” |

| |

|Participants also reported they had more understanding of: |

| |

|“How disabilities can affect people’s day-to-day lives” |

|“How to recognise and record hate crime” |

|“How to understand a person’s needs” |

|“How to identify needs of disabled individuals and adjust approaches to effectively deliver to their needs” |

|“Ways to better safeguard victims” |

|“What to do when dealing with vulnerable people” |

|“Where to direct people to for additional support” |

|“The impact of people’s disabilities has (when writing statements)” |

| |

|Quotes from Barnet Police Officers |

|“There should be more training with response officers on how to interact with members of the public who have disabilities.” |

|One Police Officer reported that the training would be particularly useful “in my interaction with people with learning difficulties as there are a few on|

|my ward”. |

|“I work in the community safety unit and this information is very relevant” |

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