Agenda item

These two items were taken together. Michelle Grimwood, a Hate Project Worker from Victim Support was introduced to the meeting.  She stated that she had been invited to present the Hate Crimes DVD for the Group’s information and any feedback or comments that they might have.  She stated that her role was in raising awareness in Hate Crime as an issue rather than working with the victims themselves.  The DVD had been produced in partnership with other organisations i.e. NBC, NCC, the Police, etc.  She stated that initially they had looked at what practical resources were available for hate crime and determined that there was in fact very little.  The DVD had been produced by Thurrock which had been led by the Police and it had been the intention to use their DVD in Northampton but it was then decided that Northampton should make their own.  She stated that the DVD started with a commercial and then dealt with the  issue of hate crime generally. 

The DVD was then shown to the Forum.  At the end comments and feedback were invited.  The Group expressed the view that this was an excellent resource and an excellent method of getting the message of stamping out hate crime across .  It was noted that copies of the DVD would be available in about three weeks time and copies of it could be made available to whoever could promote it.  It was noted that the Criminal Justice Board were making it a County wide strategy and the aim was to get it to be seen in as many places as possible.  It was suggested that it would be a good strategy to get it shown                                     in schools, libraries, etc.

Sergeant Colhoun then did an update on hate crimes.  He stated that currently there were five investigators and a Victim Support worker.  Once the new Victim Support worker was in post he would bring them along and introduce them to the Forum.  This was to replace Steve Young who had previously carried out the role.  He stated that his statistics were much the same as previously and referred to a number of successful prosecutions regarding homophobic incidents.  He referred to specific premises where incidents had occurred and to the fact that there had been an incident at Midsummer Meadow which would be reported to the Midsummer Meadow working group when it next met.  Some discussion then ensued in terms of gay venues in the Town and some of the problems that were being encountered. The suggestion was made that perhaps there needed to be some monitoring to determine the door policy of these venues. 

Some further discussion then ensued  in terms of gay venues and issues around community safety.

The Chief Constable then addressed the Forum outlining his role and aspirations in terms of hate crime issues. He stressed his commitment to dealing with hate crime and other related issues because he considered they were very important and needed to be tackled in the right way. Solutions would be achieved as the DVD showed through true partnership working.

In terms of actual statistics it was noted that there had been 530 incidents of hate crime in the County and the detection rate for hate crime across the County was 44%.  Next year they were looking for 50%.  Sergeant Colhoun added that he thought the DVD was an excellent example of true partnership working in getting the message about hate crime across to all sections of the community. 

Michelle, Sergeant Colhoun and the Chief Constable were thanked for taking time out to attend this meeting and taking part in the very important issue of hate crime.