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TSAN'1~1 C:OUh'TY NEWS, Wednesday, October 16, 2AQ2
<br />•
<br />
<br />Officers
<br />attend
<br />profiling
<br />workshop
<br />f By Rachel Weddig
<br />In 2001, there were 209
<br />hate crimes reported in Min-
<br />, nesota and 50-GO percent of
<br />those crimes were committed
<br />by someone under 21 years-
<br />old, explained Mort Ryweck
<br />from the League of Minneso-
<br />ta Human Rights Commis-
<br />sions.
<br />Ryweck, along with
<br />Angela Helseth, Assistant
<br />Minnesota Attorney General,
<br />recently presented a work-
<br />shop on understanding and
<br />reporting hate crimes and
<br />racial profiling to members of
<br />the Isanti County law
<br />enforcement and Cambridge
<br />Police Department.
<br />The workshop, sponsored
<br />by the Isanti County Sheriff's
<br />Office, Isanti County Human
<br />Rights Commission and the
<br />League of Minnesota Human
<br />Rights Commission, was held
<br />Wednesday, October 9, at
<br />the Isanti County Govern-
<br />ment Center.
<br />It Baas designed to update
<br />officers on the aspects of a
<br />hate crime; racist acronyms;
<br />ti~hy racial profiling is wrong
<br />and give them an overview of
<br />legal considerations when
<br />dealing with hate crimes.
<br />Kory Erickson, Chief
<br />Deputy Sheriff and the local
<br />law enforcement representa-
<br />tive on the Isanti County
<br />Human Rights Commission,
<br />felt the workshop was very
<br />useful to help his officers
<br />understand ut~hat is and what
<br />isn't classified as a hate
<br />crime
<br />"I thought it was a real
<br />good class; it gave us a good
<br />understanding of what a hate
<br />crime is," Erickson said. "We
<br />' possibly might have have had
<br />classified hate crimes out
<br />here, but they were never
<br />I registered as that."
<br />Erickson said part of the'`
<br />discussions that take place at
<br />Isanti County Human Rights
<br />Commission meetings are .
<br />focused on determining what
<br />should be classified as a hate
<br />crime.
<br />"We discuss this often;
<br />well maybe we have a hate
<br />crime or maybe we don`t,"
<br />Erickson said. "This helped us
<br />clarify what we report as a
<br />neighborhood dispute or a'
<br />hate crime."
<br />Ryweck explained that of
<br />;the 209 hate crimes reported
<br />in 2001, most were commit-
<br />ted following the events of
<br />Sept. 11.
<br />According to the Minneso-
<br />~a Department of Public Safe-
<br />ty Bias Offense Reporting Sys-
<br />tem, the most common
<br />offense in 2001 was verbal
<br />abuse (person to personi with
<br />i 45 incident reports, followed
<br />by simple assault with 40
<br />incident reports.
<br />i The most common place
<br />the offense occurred was in a
<br />residence, followed by the
<br />street sidewalk and the most
<br />common reason for the
<br />offense was triggered by the
<br />person's race.
<br />Helseth, from a legal
<br />standpoint, gave the defini-
<br />tion of a hate crime. She
<br />defined a hate crime as,
<br />"actions or words directed at
<br />or committed against an indi-
<br />vidual; when the offense is
<br />committed in whole or in
<br />part, because of the victim's ~
<br />actual or perceived race,
<br />color, religion, sex, sexual
<br />orientation, disability, age or o
<br />national origin." e
<br />Hate crimes aren't always r
<br />committed b~- hate group
<br />organizations, sometimes p
<br />daily interaction bet~~~een as
<br />people results in a hate crime in
<br />Being committed, explained fa
<br />~~ ~a'eck. in
<br />" t n., uvesn t mean.. hate
<br />groups don't commit hate
<br />crimes, they do," Ryweck
<br />said. "Organized groups have
<br />committed some of the ::worst
<br />hate crimes "' -`
<br />The officers watched ~~a
<br />training video that showed a
<br />few different hate crimes peo-
<br />ple have committed. One of
<br />the hate crimes detailed was
<br />the cross burning that took
<br />place on a black fatuity's
<br />home in Eden Prairie seven or
<br />eight years ago,
<br />The video showed how the
<br />family was traumatized by the
<br />events and how they were
<br />afraid to leave their homes.
<br />Follo~n~ing the video,
<br />Ryweck explained it's the offi-
<br />cer's duty to make the victims
<br />of a hate crime feel safe and
<br />ensure the family or individ-
<br />ual the department is doing
<br />everything they can to make
<br />sure the incident doesn't hap-
<br />pen again.
<br />"The message from this
<br />video is not to minimize the
<br />importance of a hate crime,"
<br />Ryweck said. "It's important
<br />to take them seriously. and
<br />respond to them in a serious
<br />way."
<br />Ryweck explained after the
<br />cross burning in Eden Prairie,
<br />the community and family
<br />were invited to a public meet-
<br />ing that involved the mayor,
<br />police chief and other public
<br />officials, to let the family
<br />know the incident didn't
<br />reflect the views of the city.
<br />Ryweck asked the officers
<br />if they have reported many
<br />hate crimes in the county and
<br />the officers said "no."
<br />„Hopefully you don't have
<br />many of them; but the ones
<br />you do, take seriously,"
<br />Ry4veck said. '
<br />The officers received an
<br />verview of the legal consid-
<br />rations they have when deal-
<br />ng with hate crimes.
<br />Helseth talked about racial
<br />rofiling which she defined
<br />"the use of race, alone or
<br />combination with other
<br />ctors, as a predictor of crim-
<br />a( activity."
<br />
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<br />G
<br />,V
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