Successful conference builds partnerships to tackle hate crime

10 November 2023

A conference which aimed to tackle hate crime in Nottinghamshire has been hailed a huge success by organisers.

It was the first time Nottinghamshire Police has hosted a hate crime forum and Chief Inspector James Walker said the Force can be proud of the event.

James, a Nottinghamshire Police Federation member, said: “This was the first time we’ve ever hosted an event like this at Nottinghamshire Police, so we were really proud to be able to do it.

"It’s great to have received so much positive feedback following the conference, with several people requesting that it become an annual event.”

The conference was held at Sherwood Lodge, the joint headquarters of the police and fire service.

Action from the Hate Crime Conference at Sherwood Lodge.

It brought together representatives of the police and fire services, the NHS, universities, and councils, as well as third sector organisations including Mencap, Nottingham Refugee Forum, the National Holocaust Centre and Museum and the Nottinghamshire LGBT+ Network.

The conference also provided a chance for people to explore how the police and other organisations can work in partnership to tackle hate crime, support victims and engage with communities.

It was organised by the Force’s Hate Crime Team as part of the national Hate Crime Awareness Week.

James said: “The purpose of the conference was to build upon the strong relationships we have developed and provide an opportunity to learn, network and discuss our approaches to tackling hate crime.”

The Nottinghamshire Hate Crime team has four main objectives:

· Increase reporting so that communities have trust and confidence in police to report hate crime

· Improve data quality to ensure the Force understands communities and the issues they face and can best direct resources

· Improve victim satisfaction by delivering the best service possible to victims. The Force has achieved 86% satisfaction levels, the highest it has ever been

· Build strategic partnerships to achieve the team’s objectives

The team works with local partners to support victims of hate and engage with communities to ensure more people feel comfortable reporting incidents.

Empowering more people to report incidents of hate crime is a key focus of the Force’s ‘Take Aim at Hate’ campaign.

Launched last year, it has coincided with the Force achieving an 86% satisfaction rate following feedback from hate crime victims.

James said: “We’re very proud to have improved victim satisfaction for those who have reported incidents of hate, with the hard work of our hate crime team playing a big part in this.

“However, while this score represents the highest we’ve ever had as a Force, we fully appreciate more still needs to be done.  

“It is so important that we continue to work with our partners to achieve our objective of increased reporting of hate crimes, which is very important and a key message of our Take Aim at Hate campaign.”

READ MORE: Still far too many assaults on our members says Fed chair.