No place for hate crime in Southampton

There is no place for this behaviour on our council estates and we are doing all we can to ensure all tenants are free to live in peace.

One of the ways we work to protect residents and make sure victims receive better support is by partnering with NFS Mediation Hate Crime Restorative Justice Service. We have a long history of successfully using the Mediation Service to resolve neighbour disputes, and now their professional mediators are assisting in cases of hate crime.

Mediation can help to restore peace to the lives of those who are unfairly victimised, like Mr Smith, a tenant in the West of the City who had been suffering from ongoing drunken and hateful abuse and disturbance from his neighbour for 18 months.

Mr Smith kept a log of the disturbances which occurred at all times day and night when his neighbour would shout hateful abuse about the fact that he is Irish. The mediator engaged with the perpetrator and discovered his dislike of people from other nationalities was borne out of an historic disagreement with previous German and Polish neighbours. Although he admitted feeling ashamed of his behaviour, the neighbour was unable to control his drinking and the abusive outbursts continued making life unbearable for Mr Smith. We had no choice but to start taking eviction action to remove the bully from his council flat. However, when threatened with eviction and with lengthy sessions with the mediator, the threatening and abusive behaviour has since stopped meaning Mr Smith can now once again live without fear and in peace.

Hate crime like this is when a victim is unfairly targeted simply because of their identity. In Mr Smith’s case it was because he was Irish. But the crime can also be because of their disability, transgender-identity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. In Southampton alone there were 1,094 recorded hate crime offences during 2022/23.

Together with the Police we are working to tackle hate crime in our city, so if you have been a victim or you witness hate crime please report it by:

• Talking to housing staff in our Local Housing Offices who can offer support and advice on incidents of hate crime in our council neighbourhoods
• Reporting incidents on our website
• Calling the Police on 101
• Calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
• Using the Love Don't Hate app

If it is a dangerous situation, for example if a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened, or there is danger to life, dial 999 immediately.