Preventing Hate Crimes in your Community

Community policing is about creating and fostering partnerships within the community to combat crime, improve public safety, and respond to disorder. Combating crime, improving public safety, and responding to disorder go beyond law enforcement; everyone in the community needs to be involved in the solution. It is important to include diverse groups whose communities may be targets of hate.

Possible partners include when using a community policing model:

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The community policing philosophy enables communities and law enforcement to jointly prevent and respond to hate crimes. A law enforcement agency that builds community partnerships is more likely to be aware of potential hate incidents before they escalate to serious crimes. The building blocks of community policing reinforce that the entire community plays a role in public safety and preventing crime.

Strong law enforcement-community partnerships are critical to preventing hate crimes. Some useful ways to begin or strengthen a partnership include:

• Network with others in the community and ask who they recommend including in the partnership.
• Research and understand how involved your local law enforcement agency is with community policing and identify a liaison officer or deputy at local law enforcement agencies who might serve as a community policing point of contact.
• Reach out to the chief of police or sheriff, as well as any other key personnel you would like to participate in the partnership.
• Focus on solutions rather than problems when meeting with your local chief of police or sheriff.

Before a community addresses hate and bias-motivated crimes, all stakeholders need to understand the local problem. The best assessment method is the SARA model: scanning for the problems, analyzing the facts, responding to reduce the problems, and assessing the outcome of the response. The SARA model is primarily used by law enforcement to gain awareness and a better understanding of a problem. It can be applied to any situation and used by any group to address the unique issues facing the community.

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Victims of hate and other vulnerable individuals are sometimes mistrustful or fearful of law enforcement, and first turn to community groups or faith-based organizations for support. Many of those organizations serve as a link to law enforcement or other supports when authorities get involved.

The majority of hate and bias motivated crimes are committed by persons under the age of 30, with approximately 17 percent of those crimes committed by someone under the age of 18.¹ This percentage may be underreported because bias incidents and hate crimes involving youth may be labeled as bullying. Youth are often more vulnerable to violent attacks, bullying, and other forms of harassment.

To combat hate crimes and bias incidents in educational environments, many teachers and school administrators use law enforcement as a resource to educate students and staff on the nature of hate incidents and crimes and how to prevent them.

Create a community-wide public awareness campaign that provides information, awareness, and resources for community members and victims of hate crimes. The awareness campaign can range from identifying intolerance to providing resources for potential victims. See Appendix H, Organizations Offering Information Concerning Anti-Bias Education, in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual (Version 2.0).

When a law enforcement agency publicly makes combating hate crimes a priority, it sends the message that discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated. This also ensures resources are devoted to the prevention and intervention of these crimes. Organizational change requires commitment, including changes in the agency management, organizational structure, personnel, and information systems. The entire agency should understand the importance of responding to hate crimes.

In addition to the training federal and state governments mandate, many law enforcement agencies train new recruits and existing personnel on hate crimes and related topics to ensure responding law enforcement personnel know how to properly investigate and report hate crimes or incidents when they occur.

Many cities and regions operate hate crime task forces with members from various law enforcement agencies and community representatives. Task forces help coordinate hate crime law enforcement personnel, assist victims, and strengthen law enforcement-community partnerships.