Fighting hate crime with education

7:23pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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Aurora Croydon is celebrating its fifth birthday and a host of achievements since it was established.

The group is a multi-agency body which provides a forum for members of the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities to meet with the police to discuss matters of common interest.

“We want to encourage people to feel confident they can report crime or raise concerns and get a decent response. That is exactly what Aurora has been trying to do over the past five years.”

Inspector Mary Wood

In the past five years it has tried to turn homophobic attitudes around in Croydon and successfully lobbied to get dedicated police support.

In addition, it has tackled bullying in schools and worked extensively with police after the killing of transsexual Kellie Tellesford last year.

Forty-year-old Kellie was found dead at her home in Leander Road, Thornton Heath, on November 21. She had been strangled.

Aurora's leading community representative, Robert Elliott explains: "We worked with the police extensively on this murder by assisting them help people come forward - people who knew her or could help.

"It was all about encouraging members of the community to come forward with information and to reassure people."

According to Mr Elliott, the new police support has massively increased confidence and enabled policing issues to be addressed more effectively.

Initially, this started with police officers working part-time but now PCSO David Kay is working full-time on the issues affecting Croydon's gay community.

Inspector Mary Wood, from Croydon police's partnership team, said: "The job of David and the rest of the partnership team is to make sure that under-represented groups can speak to the police and feel that they will be listened to, not judged.

"We want to encourage people to feel confident they can report crime or raise concerns and get a decent response. That is exactly what Aurora has been trying to do over the past five years."

She added: "We've tackled a few problems together which I think has improved our understanding of each other.

"It helps that the police have a diverse work force, but that doesn't always mean we can see things from the community prospective - that's why groups like Aurora keep us in touch."

Tackling bullying in schools has also been a key area of work and the project, funded by Awards for All, is now close to completion.

Mr Elliott added: "This has been about equipping teachers with the tools to address bullying and equality on all grounds. We recognised that many schools were and are ill-equipped to deal with it and it is now being rolled out to other parts of the country."

This month a new network, named Crocus, will be launched in Croydon, which has been created to represent the gay community.

Councillor Simon Hall said: "I was approached by some members of the community who felt their local councillors might not be fully sympathetic or did not have the specialist knowledge to really help them.

"A councillor surgery is just the start. Crocus can continue to drive forward more initiatives that will benefit the community in Croydon."