Agenda item

To update the Board on progress on achieving our equalities objective.

RECEIVED the report of Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety and Sujeevan Ponnampalam, Prevent Lead.

NOTED

1.    The verbal introduction by Councillor Gina Needs, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Cohesion.

2.    Key points of the report highlighted by Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety. Members were invited to raise questions and comments.

3.    In response to Members’ queries regarding the definition of Hate Crime its was explained that it is any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic. Their characteristic includes disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and trans identity.

4.    Tackling Hate Crime is a Priority within the new Community Safety Partnership (Safer and Stronger Communities Board) Plan 2022-25, which is currently being finalised.

5.    The latest figures were provided within the report detailing the various categories of Hate Crime and their respective changes. Members were advised that this information reflects reported crime.

6.    In response to concerns regarding the reporting of Hate Crimes, it was advised that although the reporting of Hate Crime is actively encouraged it is recognised historically that there are some groups of people who are not comfortable in reporting such incidences to the police therefore other avenues have been set up, such as third party community based reporting sites where volunteers are able to assist with online reporting to the police which is often a valuable service.

7.    In response to Members’ questions regarding this data officers advised that in Enfield, the highest proportion of hate crime recorded was racist and religious in its nature. In the borough, this portion of hate crime recorded an increase of 6.4%. Homophobic hate crime increased by 50.8%, however, disability hate crime reduced by 20% and Transgender hate crime remained the same.

8.    In response to Members’ questions regarding the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on Hate Crime, officers explained that Hate Crime, similarly to Anti-Social Behaviour, rose significantly during lock down periods by over 50% at some points. In June 2019 (prior to lockdown) the figures reflected 104 incidents in just one month and by June 2021 it was still 5.5% higher than the previous 12 rolling months. The category that increased by the greatest amount was racist hate crime.

9.    Officers explained the remit of the Enfield Hate Crime Case Management Panel which meets every two months to discuss reported cases of Hate Crime. The panel, which is made up of statutory partners and local community organisations ensures a victim centred approach is given to each case and that the best possible outcome for the victim is achieved. The panel may also escalate cases to the Hate Crime Forum who oversee Hate Crime interventions in Enfield.

10.  Officers provided further information on the Hate Crime Forum and explained that it is also responsible for provision of training for professionals including community organisations as part of the action plan delivery.

11. In response to Members’ queries Andrea explained that the Council and the police are required to present current reporting trends and analysis of hate crime to the forum. This enables the forum to challenge partners on performance if significant gaps are noticed.

12. It was acknowledged that there had been a period of decreasing numbers of disability hate crime reported to services and discussion took place as to the possible reasons for this. Officers advised that to understand this further and support victims, all homophobic and disability hate crimes along with faith crimes are scrutinised by the borough’s case management panel.

13. Councillor Sampson asked that, as misogyny is not recorded as a Hate Crime, where the data for this crime type is picked up. It was advised that this data is not currently made available to the Community Safety team.

14.  In response to the Young Mayor’s concerns regarding the school aspect of Hate Crime and what targeted outreach work takes place,  Officers provided information on the Community Safety portfolio highlighting the Prevent Agenda and the robust programme of work that takes place in all secondary schools which includes an additional piece of work around Hate Crime. The Prevent Agenda is also delivered at a lower level in primary schools.

15. Peter Nathan Director of Education added that it would be good to get more data from schools around this issue. However, due to Government agenda changes in the 1990’s Local Authorities (LAs) can no longer collect the data that they would like to. Work does take place between the Local Authority and schools around equalities and safeguarding, but further work is often restricted due to the powers around it as well as funding. The Chair, Councillor Erbil agreed that funding is a massive issue due to cuts over the past twelve years but went on to say that schools and the LA have very dedicated Officers who ensure any incidents are tackled and dealt with.

16. Supt. Rhona Hunt referred to a recent Police online survey which had engaged with 120,000 young people. Out of these young people 10% said they had been a victim of crime in the last 12 months, with 30% of these crimes being hate crimes. This was resulting in interesting discussions with schools locally and London wide, looking at what could be done to tackle these issues.

17. In response to a question regarding engaging with the various religious groups in Enfield, Andrea explained that historically there has always been a great relationship with the Faith Forum, good links with its independent members and lots of community engagement work regularly takes place. It was also advised that the Enfield Faith Officer (MPS) also sits on the Hate Crime Executive and has good relationships with the harder to reach groups within the borough.

18. Discussions took place regarding sanction detection rates as well as the pressures within the criminal justice system and it was acknowledged that this often resulted in crimes going underreported therefore it was important to build confidence in people to come forward. Supt. Hunt said that although there has been an improvement in the number of sanction detections and outcomes, public satisfaction rates were still low and there needs to be a deeper dive into the reasons behind this.

19. It was agreed that the sanction detection data would be brought to a future meeting of the Equalities Board.

Action: Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety

20. Concerns were raised regarding the complexity and length of the online police form for reporting all crime types as again, this often dissuaded people from reporting. Supt. Hunt said that although she had no influence in regard to this form, one of the main points taken away following a recent visit by the Commissioner to the North Area BCU was the online reporting process, and this was an issue that would continue to be fed-back.

21. In view of the above the Chair, Councillor Erbil suggested that a letter be sent on behalf of the Equalities Board to the London Assembly Member outlining the concerns raised regarding the MET’s online reporting form.

Action: Councillor Ergin Erbil (Chair)

The Chair thanked Andrea for her interesting and informative update.