South Yorkshire Police is committed to working with religious and ethnic groups to build and improve confidence and links. One of the ways we do this is by regularly holding community consultation meetings.

The SCEU focuses on various groups and issues in the community including:

Asylum Seekers
Tackling Hate Crime
Women’s Groups
Interpretation Services
Forced and Arranged Marriage Support
LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) Relations

Asylum Seekers

The Yorkshire and Humberside Region receives the largest number of Asylum Seekers dispersed to live anywhere in the UK.
We can provide guidance on a whole range of matters relating to Asylum Seekers including many community contacts. We are also working on building up the confidence of Asylum Seekers in the police, given that their experience of policing is very different to our own.

Tackling Hate Crime

We aim to ensure SYP provides an appropriate, professional and corporate response to all incidents of Hate Crime. The Minorities Unit monitors trends in racist, homophobic and transphobic incidents and is responsible for development of policies and practices relating to preventative measures, reporting procedures and recording processes.
We aim to minimise the occurrence of Hate Crime, in part by raising awareness of the issue in order to change attitudes and highlight the consequences for those involved.

Women's Groups

We work with Black and Ethnic Minority Women’s Groups within South Yorkshire, looking at all types of issues that affect women within their communities. These include personal safety and crime prevention issues.

Interpretation Services

If your first language is not English and you require linguistic assistance, South Yorkshire Police provides an interpreting service in the following circumstances:

• If you call by phone to report a crime
• If you attend at a police station front desk
• If you are being interviewed by the police
• If you have any queries about the police service

This interpreting service is available by telephone or in person depending on the circumstances.
It covers the majority of languages spoken in the world.

In addition, for Deaf or Hard of Hearing People we have a Minicom service (0114 219 6761). Alternatively we can accept texts from your mobile phone (send to 07786 220022), or if you attend at a police station arrangements will be made for a signer to attend.

Forced Marriage Support

Forced Marriages should always be viewed as distinct from the accepted practice of Arranged Marriages. We seek to co-ordinate all issues concerning Forced Marriages and work closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on the subject.

LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) Relations

Hate crime against the LGBT community is vastly underreported for many reasons, including fear of ridicule or not being taken seriously and lack of confidence in the police or other agencies.
SYP has an LGBT Co-ordinator dedicated to raising the profile, and further developing the work, of the police with regard to LGBT issues. We are working towards improving the contacts, links and involvement with LGBT communities and groups countywide, building confidence and trust in the police to report hate crime incidents and getting people involved in policing initiatives such as the IAG (Independent Advisory Group). We also monitor all homophobic / transphobic incidents reported to the police.

To contact the Specialist Community Engagement Unit call 0114 2197053.