|
|
 |
|
|
Twenty Five Plus Things That Law Enforcement Agencies Can Do to Prevent or Respond to Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim Acts
- Identify potential by vulnerable grops in your city. Determine the most likely sites or locations for incidents. Do an assessment of community tension levels. CRS has specific information on what to
look for in establishing a Distant Early Warning Signs (DEWS) process.
- Call and meet with community leaders to discuss tensions, problems, issues.
- Establish opportunities for training and learning for your staff about targeted groups. Use 'ethnic experts' to help the department (see #11 below)
- Increase patrol activities in areas where harassment or hate incidents might occur.
- Visit schools where harassment or incidents might occur -- show a police presence and have officers talk with students about keeping the peace.
- Establish school-based task forces on diversity. The Community Relations Serviceoffers a training program (Student Problem Identification and Resolution) on how law enforcement agencies can lead in this
effort. Consider specific projects (dialogues, forums rallies, unity celebrations, etc) which give people constructive ways to express feelings. CRS can provide specific guidance on how to mediate
community dialogues.
- Provide a police presence in targeted communities. Consider increases in walking a patrols and other commuity - oriented policing practices.
- Establish a community task force. Reach out to the community in a pro-active manner. Enlist leadership from the widest cross-section of communities.
- Review departmental policies and protocols on responding to hate crie and hate incidenss. If the department does not have ausch policies-invite a diverse group of officers and area leaders to help
construct one. If the department has such policies, publicize them.
- Speak out against hate crimes. Hold press conferences emphasizing the department's position on hate crime and hate incident activity.
- Use 'Ethnic Experts' Speakers Bureaus (people with special knowledge of a particular community) to help your employees understand cross cultural issues.
- Prepare yourself for tough questions and personnel. Anticipate these questions and prepare constructive responses.
- Institute initiatives and partnerships with community-based organizations (rallies, forums, dialogues, etc.) CRS can provide specific guidance on how to conduct a community dialogue.
- Establish 'visor cards' for patrol staff on the basic facts of Islam, Muslims, and Sikhs.
- Do roll call training - short (5 to 10 minutes) presentations of key information useful to patrol officers. Utilize 'ethnic experts' from the community to help conduct this training.
- Have a plan for use of interpreters by the department. ATT has a service if there are no local resources.
- Review/revise plans and protocols for responding to major demonstrations and special events. CRS has information on handling major demonstrations and events.
- Establish or expand a Bias Incident Unit or Response Team.
- Hold periodic debriefings with command staff on race and ethnic community tensions.
- Conduct "audits" of the department's racial tensions and assess how they might affect policing practices.
- Establish direct lines of communications with community leaders (these are people whom other people listen to in the communities) and in cases where a community response is likely ( a shooting incident, a high
profile crime, etc). Convene a meeting with these leaders for clarification discussions. Tell them what the community needs to know about the department's activities in order to mitigate fears and
rumors in the community.
- Review cultural awareness principles and methods -- CRS has a one page information sheet on the Principles and Methods of Cultural Awareness)
- Expand/establish relationships with the local media to facilitate positive community news and information safety messages.
- Review/revise/expand the department's recruiting efforst among ethnic and racial minorities.
- Consider calling the Community Relations Service of the United States Department of Justice your on-call resource in addressing racial and ethnic tensions. (See
www.usdoj.gov/crs, or call Tim Johnson at 202-305-2935).
|
|
