NCJ Number
244904
Date Published
2013
Length
44 pages
Annotation
This guide promotes and provides instruction and resources for organization and action to prevent and respond appropriately and firmly to hate crimes.
Abstract
A model effort mounted against hate crime in Billings, MT, is provided at the outset of the guide. In Billings, a strong partnership between the community and law enforcement was the basis for countering growing white supremacist activity, after a hate group vandalized a Native-American family's home, desecrated a Jewish cemetery, and threw a brick through the window of a 6-year-old boy's room because he displayed a Menorah for Hanukkah, local police responded by investigating each incident as a hate crime and providing security to victims; however, the key to a community-wide response was the police chief's initiation of contact and conversation with community leaders, which became the driving force for creating a community climate in which hate crime is not tolerated. The theme of this effort is "Not in Our Town" (NIOT) which became the title of a PBS documentary that sparked a national grassroots movement against hate crime. This guide presents the NIOT movement as a feature of community policing, whereby the police assume the leadership in initiating, organizing, and sustaining a community-wide response to hate crime. One of the keys to motivating community participation against hate crime is an accurate assessment of the prevalence of hate crime and the identification of areas where it may be concentrated. Key features of the NIOT movement are the prioritizing of hate crimes, officer training, creation of a special task force, police instruction in schools, and the creation of public awareness. Resources listed for a NIOT campaign include films and documentaries, articles on local lessons in countering hate crime, and short videos. Resources available from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) are listed.