Liverpool City Council's Hate Crime Policy is on its way

I had a really useful meeting last week with the head of Community Safety and her colleague, who are currently consulting on a Hate Crime Policy for the city. The policy explains what processes should be followed if a member of the public, a member of staff or a councillor report an incident of hate crime. They plan a triage system where an early assessment is made as to which cases need referring straight to the police and which require internal investigation and appropriate action. The Anti-Social Behaviour unit will play a big role so it will need to be better resourced - something else I have been talking to officers about. As a member of the Community Cohesion and Equalities Task Group, I thought I should give some real time to the consultation, which comes to an end next week. So we went over the policy, line by line and I hope I was able to make some useful additions and suggestions. I was very interested to learn that the officers who have carried out this work, believe that we may be the first council to adopt such a policy - when that time comes.