Civic centre's new plan to tackle hate crime in Haringey

Public consultation to begin on new proposals designed to turn around rising local rates of hate crime, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

'Fight hate' sign — credit Jon Tyson via Unsplash

Haringey Council will consult on new plans to tackle hate crime following an increase in the number of offences reported in the borough.

The civic centre plans to draw up a new hate crime strategy designed to create “an environment where hate crime is not tolerated but challenged, reported, and dealt with appropriately”.

According to a report presented to a meeting of the council’s cabinet on Tuesday (7th), overall reported hate crime in Haringey grew by 2% during 2021/22, with the largest increases ranging from 14% for anti-semitic hate crimes to 20% for homophobic hate crimes.

The largest hate crime category in Haringey is racist and religious hate crime, which rose by 12%.

Adam Jogee, cabinet member for economic development, jobs and community cohesion, told the meeting that the data showed how serious a challenge the council and its partners faced. But he added that he was reassured by the response from cabinet and officers “that we will tackle some of those very difficult challenges and get to a place, as soon as we can, where that data reads very differently”.

The strategy will aim to raise awareness, encourage the reporting of incidents, support victims and increase the understanding of hate crime in Haringey. It will include all protected characteristics covered by hate crime law: religion, race, disability, sexuality and transgender identity.

In parallel with the hate crime strategy, the council is developing a new plan to improve the safety of residents, business and visitors, and to cut crime and disorder.

The proposed ‘priority areas’ of the community safety strategy are violence and high-harm crimes; violence against women and girls; exploitation; public trust and confidence; reducing victims of crime and anti-social behaviour; and reducing reoffending.

The council plans to hold extensive twelve-week consultations on both strategies, which are expected to begin this Monday and run up to the week ending 5th May. The final strategies are expected to be published in August, subject to the agreement of cabinet and full council.

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