Northumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner Susan Dungworth has made tackling hate crime and promoting community cohesion a key priority in her refreshed Police and Crime Plan, warning that hatred "ruins people's lives" and calling on everyone to report it.
Two years after the summer 2024 riots that followed the murder of three girls in Southport, Merseyside, by Axel Rudakubana, Ms Dungworth said the challenge of hatred has not gone away. The unrest, sparked by misinformation on social media that the killer was an illegal immigrant, saw far-right groups clash with police in Sunderland, hurling missiles including bricks, concrete slabs and scaffolding poles. Businesses were damaged and looted, and abuse was shouted outside a mosque, leading to multiple participants being jailed.
Hate Crime 'Not Just Banter'
Ms Dungworth said the riots put division under the spotlight but the problem predated them. "Someone said after the riots; 'I'm not surprised. It was always a case of when it would happen, not if'," she said. "People were just living with that. It's very important to recognise hate crime for what it is. It's not just a bit of banter. It ruins people's lives. It's up to all of us to call it out, or at least report it after the incident."
She expressed surprise that hate crime remains one of the big challenges, noting a brief period of collective guilt after the riots that faded. "It might not be in the news anymore. The danger is if we don't tackle hate crime we will have a generation of young people who are seeing their parents subjected to it and they are being subjected to it and you get a more and more divided society," she said. "It's not just that these things are said in the pub anymore. They are said in the House of Commons and the council chamber."
Working with Perpetrators
While the then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced rapid sentencing for those involved in the disorder, Ms Dungworth said now is the time to work with perpetrators to understand their views. "The response at the time was the right response, it was the right message to send," she said. "But we need to work with the people we find it hard to work with. It's about changing these attitudes and behaviours."
She added: "There are communities, for different reasons, who feel left behind. These people are vulnerable to being exploited. We need to talk to people, we need to try and understand, but challenge that."
