Commendation for our Chair, Neelam Devesher

Congratulations to Neelam Devesher DL, Chair of the Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel and Chair of Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum, who was awarded with a Chief Constable’s Commendation on Wednesday, 8 March.

Neelam, who has chaired the panel from its inception in 2019, has implemented many impactful changes through her leadership including; a better understanding for the Force on how to support victims of hate crime, a new Force Hate Crime Strategy that has direct community involvement and has been written with the community, the development of specific hate crime panels to allow people to question Surrey Police on how it operates when dealing with hate crime, and much more.

The panel meet every quarter, reviewing 10 hate crime cases and evaluating how the Force have dealt with the investigations. The cases are discussed highlighting the victims experience and where there could have been more support or action taken. Building good working relationships with hard to reach communities has been a key element and aim of the panel to ensure the voices of these communities are heard.

Performance figures show continuous improvement since Neelam’s direct input and implementation of the new Force strategy; the solved hate crime rate has increased by showing that a better service is being given to victims and victim satisfaction rates have likewise improved. Neelam’s passion for supporting communities and victims of hate crime cannot be overstated, she is vital to the continual improvement of Surrey Police in hate crime.

Neelam is pictured here with the Chief Constable, Gavin Stephens.