Hate Crime Awareness Week 2025
This weekend sees the start of Hate Crime Awareness Week – and teams of police and council officers will be taking the opportunity to visit transport, faith and educational hubs to engage with residents, commuters and students to spread the message that Hate Has No Place in Barnet and to provide support. These pop-up hubs are run most years but are taking place at a time when the fear of hate crime is very real for many local communities – especially following recent events elsewhere in the country, and also with high levels of Anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents here in Barnet.
As recently communicated through the council’s ‘Connecting Communities’ campaign, the majority of people – 85% in the last Resident Perception Survey – believe that people in Barnet get on well with each other regardless of background, and this is the result of the amazing local groups, events and connections across Barnet’s communities. At the next meeting of Full Council, a motion will be put forward to recognise the impact of this positive community work, as well as to stand up to the negative rhetoric and misinformation that has been prevalent over recent months.
This year, Hate Crime Awareness Week will also be used in Barnet as a springboard for further work to take place to expand the approach of ‘active bystander’ training that the council has recently launched as part of its ‘Step In’ campaign to tackle harassment of women, to help residents get a better understanding of what they can do if they witness hate crime. Already, a number of resources are available, including in-person hate crime reporting centres, dedicated reporting mechanisms for specific types of hate crime, and the Barnet Victim Care Hub – find out everything you need to know about reporting hate crime here: Hate crime | Barnet Council
Councillor Sara Conway, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Community Cohesion and Ending Violence Against Women & Girls, said: “I am acutely aware of the impact that recent incidents both in the borough and nationally, are having on local residents here. Hate crime is something we need to constantly work to counter through our partnership with the police and the links we have built and continue to strengthen with community groups across the borough.
“By being visibly out and about on the streets of Barnet, we hope that we can help to reassure people who live, work in and visit the borough, and we commit to continuing to work over the coming months to improve reporting and increase awareness of how to provide and access support for residents who experience or witness hate crimes being committed.
“If we all work together, we can make a real impact – and make a reality of the statement that hate has no place in Barnet.”
Notes to editors:
The pop-up hubs will be jointly run by the police and council, with focused safety advice and free property marking on offer. Information on victim and witness support services will also be shared at the hubs. People can visit the hubs at the following locations and times:
- Thursday 9 October, 3.30-6pm: Russell Parade, Golders Green
- Monday 13 October, 11am-2pm: Hartley Hall, Mill Hill and Mill Hill Broadway
- Tuesday 14 October, 11am-2pm: Edgware Bus Station
- Wednesday 15 October, 12noon-2pm: Barnet and Southgate College (Barnet Campus)
- Thursday 16 October, 12noon-3pm: The Spires, High Barnet
- Friday 17 October, 1-4pm: Islamic Association of North London (IANL), Finchley
- Monday 20 October, 11am-2pm: Barnet and Southgate College (Colindale Campus)
- Friday 24 October, 12noon-3pm: Islamic Centre, Edgware.