Hate Crime Policy Officer, Glasgow City Council, Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability
Tackling Hate Crime – Glasgow is in a unique position in Scotland as the only local authority with a dedicated hate crime policy post holder. This allows us to tackle hate crime not only as an issue for our statutory justice services, but also as a community concern for which we share joint responsibility. By providing a joined-up approach to hate crime that tackles education, safe and accessible infrastructure, housing, partnership with the third sector, and collaboration with government at a national level, Glasgow’s response to hate crime is robust and improving every year.
National Hate Crime Awareness Week – Awareness-raising campaigns are a key activity in our strategy to tackle hate crime. Because hate crime is often misunderstood and can be subject to stigma, it’s important for us to raise awareness not only of the consequences of hate crime for those who might perpetrate it, but also the options that victims and witnesses have in order to report and overcome the trauma of experiencing hate crime and incidents. Our partners told us that their service users often did not know what their options for reporting were, other than speaking directly to the police, which was in many cases a barrier to reporting. Because we know that hate crime underreporting is a significant issue (it is estimated that 170,000 hate crimes go unreported in the UK each year) it was clear to us that the focus of our awareness raising in 2022 had to be on increasing awareness of reporting procedures such as Third Party Reporting, reporting online, and using disability-accessible facilities such as Contact Scotland BSL and the Keep Safe Scotland app. You can CLICK ON THE VIDEO BELOW to find out more about what a hate crime is.
You can CLICK ON THE PICTURE LINK or SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW to read the Glasgow Hate Crime Strategy.
Throughout National Hate Crime Awareness Week we ran a social media campaign, spotlighting key issues faced by each of the characteristics protected by hate crime legislation in Scotland (which are race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and transgender identity). As part of this campaign, we produced two videos. The first was in collaboration with the Scottish Ethnic Minority Deaf Club, a Third Party Reporting centre which, among other important work, can help British Sign Language (BSL) users to access police services. You can CLICK THE VIDEO LINK below to view the video used by BSL to explain disability hate crime and highlight ways in which D/deaf and hard of hearing people can report hate crime if it happens to them.
The second video below – was a positive message of diversity and belonging, produced in collaboration with Interfaith Glasgow, which invited its membership to participate by filming themselves. This video ended the week’s social media posts on an empowering note and, in a year that saw a 16% decrease in reports of religiously aggravated hate crime in Scotland, this message that religiously motivated crime is not tolerated in our communities was welcomed.
You can CLICK THE PICTURE LINK or SCAN THE QR CODE below to read more statistical information in regard to hate crime.
Alongside our social media campaign, we also ran physical events – the flagship event was a hybrid livestream/ in person talk about hate crime produced in collaboration with Glasgow Disability Alliance. Aimed at improving access to information for disabled people who are at risk of experiencing hate crime, the event was open to all and was presented by myself (Glasgow City Council’s Hate Crime Policy Officer) and Police Scotland Safer Communities PC. Feedback to this event was hugely positive, particularly around the hybrid approach which allowed participants to join in with the Q&A from their own homes. As well as this, hate crime education was present at Promoting Anti-Racism in Education 2022 (PARTIE22), which saw some 1600 young people receive information about hate crime by participating in workshops at the City Chambers, attending our information stall, and entering our awareness-raising poster competition.
For information about the upcoming 2023 National Hate Crime Awareness Week campaign, you can contact myself (Danni Glover) or visit HateCrimeScotland.org
Mock Hate Crime Trial – While National Hate Crime Awareness Week spotlights community responses to hate crime, events have also been underway to highlight the important work done by our statutory criminal justice services. Co-produced by the COPFS Sheriffdom Equality Network and partners in Glasgow City Council, a mock hate crime trial invited professionals from across the network of justice services to see how a trial of this nature operates, giving them the tools they need to help their service users to navigate the justice process. Taking racial hate crime – the most commonly-reported type of hate crime in the UK – as its emphasis, the event demonstrated a fictional event played out by an actual Sheriff – with Procurator Fiscal Deputes playing other key roles in the trial including the accused and the victim. This event was extremely well received with future events planned in 2023 and beyond. The Sheriffdom Equality Network staff behind this event won the 2022 Sheriffdom Equality Network Prize, which is hugely encouraging, demonstrating that these events have the potential to increase recognition of the importance of hate crime awareness. Events like this are hugely effective in raising awareness of what the processes behind hate crime reporting are – and this education encourages people to report by dispelling prevalent myths around what a hate crime is, how they affect people and communities, and what happens after you make a report.
Looking Ahead: Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Strategy – 2023 has seen the publication of the Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Strategy, produced in partnership with the Hate Crime Strategic Group and the voices of those with lived experience. This strategy sets out key policy and operational priorities alongside the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, beneath three aims:
An action plan to accompany this strategy is anticipated in late 2023. We welcome the recommendations laid out in the strategy which align with our own strategic aims – and we are looking forward to working with the Scottish Government going forward to prevent, facilitate reporting of, and improve responses to hate crime. CLICK THE PICTURE LINK or SCAN THE QR CODE below to read the strategy document.
Margaret Smith, Policy Planning & Development Officer, Community Justice Glasgow commented:
“I am really pleased to see the work that is going into tackling hate crime in Glasgow and support those who experience it. At Community Justice Glasgow we recognise the significance of hate crime and the trauma and adverse impacts that it has on the people it touches, we are working with partners to put in place robust and appropriate responses to perpetrators. We recognise that challenging the roots of the behaviour is the best way to reduce the risk that a person will re-offend – the earlier this behaviour is tackled the better.
Glasgow Health & Social Care Partnerships’(GHSCP) Youth Justice Social Work Team, for example, work with SACRO’s STOP Service as a partner in Diversion from Prosecution for young people. STOP is a Scottish Government-funded service which tackles Sectarian and all other Hate Crime offending. The service is available to anyone aged 12 and over who has been charged with a first time and/or a low to moderate level Sectarian or Hate Crime offence. The service uses a programme which has been designed to educate and rehabilitate individuals to ensure positive, achievable and sustainable changes in attitudes and behaviours with really positive results.
I look forward to strengthening links between the work that Danni is leading and Community Justice over the coming years.”