In mid March 2020, the Metropolitan Police Service set up the COVID 19 – Chinese and East Asian Forum to hold regular telephone conference meeting with community safety stakeholders.
The Forum comprises of representatives from different department of the MPS, British Transport Police (BTP), local authorities, and representatives from community centres, faith groups, businesses and activists in the communities to exchange information about community concerns, and MPS works in protecting the communities.
Hackney Chinese Community Centre has been very active in supporting its members and wider Chinese community against racist attacks and abuse. As such, we have been invited to participate in this forum.
The group meeting focuses on hate crimes targeted towards the Chinese and South East Asian community since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic. The Met Police Chinese And South East Asian Staff Association (CASEASA) is instrumental to this initiative.
The Forum has a standard agenda for update of:
· Hate crime figures in London, and observation on any patterns or hotspots.
· MPS and BPT update on policing the lock down, and issues identified.
· Dissemination of information such as videos in community languages, hate crime training for community.
· Sharing intelligence with the community on incidents or areas of concerns.
Protection Approaches, a Leading Hate Crime Prevention Charity has been running Understanding Hate Crime Webinar Workshop for Chinese/ Student/ Business Communities, with Mandarin Interpretation
Next session is: - 30/04/20, 3.30pm - 6pm, via Zoom/ Webinar.
To join, please click: