Hazel Stewart joined Lancashire Constabulary as a Police Constable in 1991, where she held a variety of roles before finding her niche as a DI and DCI in the Public Protection Unit (PPU). The PPU had responsibility for missing persons, domestic abuse, child abuse, child exploitation and management of sex offenders, the role was, at times, challenging, demanding, and frustrating but ultimately rewarding. In 2014, she was seconded to CEOP, a command of the National Crime Agency (NCA) to coordinate the national response to the sharing of child sexual abuse material on Peer to Peer Networks (Op Notarise). In 2016, she transferred to the NCA where she managed three teams of Investigators tasked with investigating all aspects of Child Sexual Abuse. In 2023, she left investigations for a policy and strategy in the CSA Threat Leadership Team where she now leads on the Com Group and Transnational Child Sex Offenders sub threat portfolios for the agency.
My network of professionals working on countering hate in all its forms grew exponentially after attending Eradicate Hate in 2021. The myriad voices represented at Eradicate Hate, from big tech companies to academic researchers to those with lived experience, reinforced to me the importance of cross-cutting and collaborative approaches to counter hate and its devastating impacts on society. I’ve been fortunate to sustain and build those networks with many of those I met at Eradicate Hate in 2021.
