Among CofE clergy, one in ten have experienced violent behaviour in the last two years, and the same percentage are experiencing more hate crime than they did two years ago. Over 66% have received verbal abuse and one in five has experienced threatening behaviour. Most threats were to harm the cleric personally, but 20% had relatives threatened and 35% experienced threats to church property. 25% of cases were because they declined to give money to someone who asked them for it. Clergy who have suffered violence are likely to find their work ‘more challenging’ than they did previously. This situation has necessitated National Churchwatch to produce a personal attack alarm for clergy; it looks like an ID badge, but has a button on the back to press if they feel at risk or needs assistance. The button connects immediately to a control room which can monitor what is going on and call the police if necessary. See