A free online livestream was held to raise awareness and give advice on how to report hate crimes across Cambridgeshire and the Fens.

The event, which took place during National Hate Crime Awareness Week, was streamed on the Fenland District Council’s YouTube channel.

The 25-minute video – which is now available to catch up online – saw a panel of experts from the police and council come together to answer questions.

Cllr Susan Wallwork, the council’s portfolio holder for communities, helped organise the much-needed engagement event.

She said: “Making sure that local communities have a strong awareness of what a hate crime is and how to report them is one of the best tools available to us and our partner organisations when working to ensure our communities are kept safe and secure.”

The experts answered questions submitted by the general public on how to spot a hate crime, how to report them and how they are investigated.

Rosie Cooke, the community safety projects officer for the Fenland Community Safety Partnership, was joined on the day by Tiff Lane, action against hate coordinator for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, and by David Bailey, the traveller and diversity manager at Fenland District Council.

The Fenland Community Safety Partnership’s quarterly engagement events, which are usually hosted in community centres and supermarket foyers across Fenland, moved online earlier this year following the introduction of coronavirus restrictions.

By being hosted online the events are able to continue despite the restrictions, albeit in a new format.

Their next event, on the topic of domestic abuse, is set to take place in November and residents can submit their questions in advance by filling in the online form available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/CSPEvent

More information on the Fenland Community Safety Partnership and the work they do in our community is available at: www.fenland.gov.uk/csp

If you, or someone you know has witnessed or been a victim of a hate crime, we urge you to report it to the police by visiting www.report-it.org.uk or by calling 101. In an emergency, always dial 999.

The Fenland Community Safety Partnership’s latest online engagement event on the topic of hate crime is now available to watch at: youtu.be/Ztp7KnBun8k

The partnership’s online engagement events help to spread key safety messages and raise awareness of the risks that Fenland residents may face.