In 1987 the Metropolitan Police, the London Borough of Newham, Newham Council for Racial Equality, Victim Support Newham, and the Home Office joined in a local multi- agency partnership so as to develop a comprehensive response to racial attacks and harassment in North Plaistow, an area of east London. The goals of the project were to prevent racial harassment and attacks, assist victims, identify and take action against perpetrators, address under-reporting of incidents by more efficient use of existing resources, and develop more effective cooperation between the agencies involved. As a first step, the working group produced an objective description of racial harassment and of the existing responses to it in the project area. A survey of local residents confirmed that racial harassment was perceived to be a serious problem in the project area. The working group then developed a range of initiatives to address various aspects of racial harassment. The action plan included more than 20 separate initiatives. The project demonstrated the complexities of structuring, planning, coordinating, implementing, and assessing the activities of several agencies in pursuit of a shared goal. It became clear the multi-agency cooperation would not solve all problems. Particularly, attempts at coordination and joint action could not substitute for effective action by individual agencies. Multi-agency initiatives were more likely to be successful if these limitations were recognized and realistic goals were set. 9 references