New hate crime reporting hubs in mosques will 'remove barriers'

"As a community, we've just been told over the years, you've got to be better. You are guests in this country; you won't be treated equally," said Faisal Mahmood, a community leader from Peterborough, on growing up as a Muslim in the UK.

According to Mahmood, this deep-rooted, ingrained belief explained why many victims did not report hate crimes. He said that over time, racist or Islamophobic abuse was often absorbed and accepted by victims as "the way it is", which he believed led to a significant gap in official statistics and needed to change.

Cambridgeshire Police said about 600 hate crime incidents (of all types) were recorded in Peterborough between August 2025 and August 2026. But to help make reporting more accessible, it has set up hate crime reporting centres at three city mosques as part of a new initiative.

Mahmood, secretary of the Joint Mosque Council, said these centres would remove barriers and make it "easier and safer for victims from the community to come forward".

The hubs are based at the Faizan-e-Madina Mosque on Gladstone Street, the Khadijah Mosque on Cromwell Road, and the Kurdish Community Centre in Woodston.

At these locations, police have trained volunteers to recognize hate-related incidents, understand the official reporting processes, and signpost victims to the appropriate support services.

Mahmood said local and national events over the last few years had left the community feeling "vulnerable", with some "choosing to stay at home", out of fear.

In 2024, mosques in the city reduced their opening hours, after far-right violence broke out around the country after three girls were fatally stabbed by a 17-year-old in Southport.

In December, Alexander Hooper of Dogsthorpe Road was handed a 27-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after he admitted to a religiously and racially aggravated offence at the Darassalaam Mosque.

The court heard he told a classroom of children at the Alma Road mosque that their prophet "was a paedophile" and that "white people will destroy you".

Speaking about the 2024 violence, Mahmood said: "I was on edge; while those riots were going on, I stood at the underground thinking, I don't want anyone pushing me. So I'd consciously stand against the wall," he added.

"But we just kind of get used to it over the years. When someone does say something Islamophobic or racist, you kind of absorb it and accept it because you feel like that's the way it is.

"But if we don't change that, it will continue."

Mahmood said the community has welcomed and reacted "positively" to the new hubs.

It came after Peterborough City Council adopted an Islamophobia statement last year, which includes a definition of Islamophobia and sets out some of the ways Muslims are impacted by it.

Speaking about the wide effects of hate crimes, reaching beyond the physical, Mahmood added: "If a Muslim woman appears with a hijab on, she's not necessarily just physically having a hijab pulled off, but if she's made to feel that she shouldn't be here because of that, that is Islamophobia.

"I feel we should be living in a society which is tolerant of different people's beliefs... we should be learning to live together and for the prosperity of the next generation and for our country."

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: "We have robust mechanisms in place to review hate crimes, to ensure they are properly recorded and investigated according to law and national guidance.

"If any other faith or community groups would like to contact the force about becoming a hate crime reporting centre, please get in touch with us."

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