The Halo Project deals with women who are at the heart of their communities and are often best placed to recognise early warning signs of radicalisation.
This can include noticing changes in people in the home or community which might be of concern – whether that is in terms of drug addiction, gang involvement, or recruitment to terrorism.
However, Muslim women have been identified as having little contact or interaction with the police. This was highlighted by research commissioned by the NPCC called ‘Assessing the Effects of Prevent Policing’.
The Halo ” SIC” Project- (Safer in Communities) will involve the BME community and wider groups to engage with the issue of radicalisation and extremism.
It will provide safe open spaces and constructive dialogue looking at the signs, issues and support available for those at risk. The project will provide the following:-
- Community Workshops; by engaging with constituted and informal groups within Cleveland workshops will be provided which will highlight the risks, attitudes and barriers for individuals.
- Virtual Community Network – a web based platform will be developed for forums and information networks which can support worried or concerned community members. This will include a campaign to report concerns within the community. There will also be “SIC” banner stands left in community centres which will be rotated across Cleveland to raise the awareness of the initiative.
- Round Table meeting – learning from the project along with subject experts will be brought together where the sharing of good practice can take place to understand the issues affecting communities living in Cleveland.
- Islamaphobia Hate Crime “SIC” reporting – The project will raise the awareness of islamphobic hate crimes, how to report crimes and identify what barriers exist for BME communties.
The project links into a number of other projects that the PCC has supported including work around increasing the reporting of incidents by the BMe community, specifically hate crime.