Using Innovation to Build Community Resilience to Hate
How a pioneering digital platform from Swansea University is helping local authorities to identify, monitor and respond to hate-related incidents.
Hate graffiti has long presented a challenge for local authorities and community safety teams across the UK. Although it is recognised as a hate incident, and can, in some cases, constitute a hate crime, it is often underreported. This creates significant gaps in the understanding of where incidents occur, how they are connected, and what these actions can reveal about wider community tensions.
To address this challenge, Professor Lella Nouri and her team have developed StreetSnap, an innovative digital platform that is transforming how hate graffiti and other visual markers of intolerance are reported, monitored and analysed.
The number of hate crimes being reported in England and Wales has dramatically increased over time; rising from 42,236 reported crimes in 2012/13 to 115,990 in 2024/25.
Addressing a Long-Standing Gap
Many local authorities are required to remove hate graffiti within a short timeframe. However, prior to StreetSnap, there was no dedicated system available that could record patterns, analyse trends, or assess the wider social impact of these incidents. As a result, valuable intelligence on community tensions and emerging extremist activity has often been lost.
Recognising this gap, Professor Nouri has worked with Bridgend County Borough Council and the Welsh Government, through SMART Partnership funding, to develop a practical, evidence-based solution.
Turning Reports into Action
StreetSnap enables council officers, police community support officers, youth workers, housing officials, education staff and other partners to photograph hateful graffiti, and instantly upload geo-tagged reports to a centralised system.
The platform supports rapid communication between the agencies that are responsible for graffiti removal, enforcing the law and providing community support, ensuring incidents are recorded and acted upon efficiently.
From Data to Intelligence
One of StreetSnap’s key strengths lies in its analytical capabilities. Users can categorise incidents according to themes, which include racism, homophobia, extremism and other forms of hate.
This information can then be used to identify hotspots, monitor trends and inform targeted interventions. The system can also flag extremist or terrorist-related content, enabling relevant agencies, including counter-terrorism police, to respond quickly and effectively.
“All of the data is captured, and can be used for community cohesion purposes, to better understand community tensions, and to rid hateful content from our streets.”
Learning from the Pilot
The project was first rolled out in Bridgend, where Professor Nouri and her team have worked closely with community cohesion and safety practitioners. Alongside the deployment of the technology, the team have also delivered evidence-based training to elected representatives, managers and frontline staff.
The pilot revealed a significant knowledge gap regarding the importance of hate visuals and their connection to wider community cohesion agendas. These findings demonstrated that tackling the issue required not only a technological solution, but also a broader educational approach. The project has since been able to put this approach into action, with the app and a dedicated training package being made available to all local authorities across the UK.
Building Stronger Communities
The benefits of StreetSnap extend beyond the rapid removal of graffiti. By generating reliable data, the platform helps organisations to understand the motivations behind hateful messaging, and to develop preventative interventions.
Insights gathered during the pilot have already supported conversations with young people about the meaning and consequences of hate symbols, creating opportunities for education and awareness-building. The long-term ambition is not simply to remove visual hate from public spaces, but to tackle its underlying causes and strengthen communities, to prevent future incidents from occurring.
Research That is Delivering Real-World Impact
StreetSnap demonstrates how academic research can be translated into practical solutions, delivering measurable social impact that can be felt across the country. As the first tool of its kind, it offers local authorities an innovative way to combat hate, improve intelligence gathering, and help create safer communities.
The StreetSnap App and training package are now available for all UK Local Authorities. For more information on accessing the StreetSnap app and training package, please contact the team by emailing:streetsnap@legaltech.wales
