Hate Crime

Terms of Reference and Membership – Lewisham Hate Crime Working Group

  1. Purpose of the working group The purpose of this working group is to review the response of the Police and partners to hate crime allegations in Lewisham, in order to continuously contribute to their effectiveness. In doing so we aim to identify good learning, good practice and areas for improvement leading to an increase in trust and confidence.
  2. ScopeThe main aim of the Lewisham Hate Crime Working Group is to provide a forum to look at statistic and discuss trends of hate incidents and crime, the reporting, and responses from the police, also how to better support victims and raise awareness in the community through third party reporting sites and organisations working on all strands of vulnerable members of our community.The parent body for this working is the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Board.
  3. Objectives
    • Develop a better understanding of Hate Crime (including causes and impacts) in the context of Lewisham community and encourage the wider discussion/debate of these issues.
    • Promote and support activity to strengthen community resilience and cohesion through effective safeguarding and partnership work (including the local authority, the police, schools, colleges, faiths, and a diverse range of community projects
    • Measure and evaluate the overall incidence and impact of Hate Crime in Lewisham including incidents not counted within official MPS figures – identifying key local features/trends/developments and promoting a problem-solving approach. Knowledge gained to be used to help inform more effective operational activity.
    • Promote and support Hate Crime awareness-raising and education initiatives in schools and community settings.
    • Promote and monitor effectiveness of third-party Hate Crime reporting sites within Lewisham
    • Provide input to quarterly SNB main public meetings including schedules of future Hate Crime prevention related events
    • To proactively seek representation from all strands of hate crime agencies to improve equality, diversity, and inclusion
  4. Membership:
    Name Membership
    Tayo Prince SNB Member
    James Mitchel SNB Member
    Phil Turner Second Wave Arts and Youth Club
    Cllr. Chris Barnham Lewisham Council
    Jannet Hall Safer Communities Lewisham Council
    Bhavna Tejpal Safer Communities Lewisham Council
    Joe Burchell SNB Member
    Gabriella Smoczynski Lewisham Speaking Up
    Shalena Hounghton-Peters Youth First
    Brenda Downs Lewisham Irish Centre
    Ken Thomas AfCD
    Royston John SNB Member
    Abimbola Oyebade -Balogun SNB Member
    Dr Noolhaq Nassim AFAA
    Shakeel Begg Lewisham Islamic Centre
    Michael Hatfield StopHate UK
    Sean Daly Millwall Community Trust
    Sophie O’Brien Hate Crime Outcome and Performance Officer (HCOP), Met Police
    Andy Didsbury Police Sergeant

     

  5. Frequency The group will meet at least 4 times a year and a member will be required to attend at least twice a year