SEATTLE – Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle & South Park) issued the following statement after the release of the City Auditor’s report on hate crimes in Seattle:
“As chair of the Council committee with oversight of civil rights issues, I thank the City Auditor’s Office for their report released earlier today, Review of Hate Crime Prevention, Response, and Reporting in Seattle.
“Addressing hate and bias crimes is vitally important, especially given the national political environment. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) noted an increase in reported bias crimes and incidents during last week’s briefing before the Gender Equity, Safe Communities and New Americans Committee.
“This Audit continues the work begun by the City Auditor at the request of former Councilmembers Clark, Licata and Rasmussen, who in 2008 requested an audit of Seattle’s Enforcement of Bias Crimes.
“I thank SPD for their responsiveness to the report’s recommendations regarding bias category coding, their work to replace their records management system, and commitment to gathering data to support bias-crime investigations and analysis. I also thank SPD for its ongoing work with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.
“I look forward to further review of the report, and to the second phase, which will focus on how the City can improve use of hate crime data. The Seattle Police Department’s Bias/Hate Crime Data dashboard, launched earlier this year, allows for searches by bias category, precinct, and neighborhood.”
Contact:
Newell Aldrich, Councilmember Herbold’s Office, 206-684-8803
Dana Robinson Slote, Council Communications, 206-615-0061
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