Require All Law Enforcement Agencies to Track and Report Hate Crimes to the F.B.I Uniform Crime Reporting System

WHEREAS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") Civil Rights Division defines hate crimes as "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity"; and

WHEREAS, most hate crimes are never reported to law enforcement because targeted communities may not feel safe reporting them, may reasonably doubt that law enforcement would respond effectively, find reporting too cumbersome, or — especially in the case of Black or immigrant communities — may avoid reporting due to distrust of law enforcement; and

WHEREAS, immigrant communities may specifically fear deportation and/or detention if they step forward; and

WHEREAS, existing hate crime legislation provides authority to federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutors to investigate and prosecute hate crimes; and

WHEREAS, there is a "hate crimes reporting gap" between the number of actual hate crimes committed, the number of hate crimes reported to local law enforcement, and the number of hate crimes reported to the FBI; and

WHEREAS, the hate crimes reporting gap is a problem in that it suggests we don't know the actual frequency of hate crimes, or whether current efforts to stop them are effective; and

WHEREAS, the failure to count or address hate crimes erodes the trust and relationship between communities of color and law enforcement agencies; and

WHEREAS, law enforcement hate crime reporting to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting System [UCR] is voluntary, and is thus subject to the whims, politics, available resources, and perceived priorities of law enforcement officials; and

WHEREAS, in its most recent UCR report, which was released in November, 2018, the FBI reported that at least 91 cities with populations exceeding 100,000 people either did not report any data to the FBI or affirmatively reported zero hate crimes; and

WHEREAS, officers and prosecutors may need training to identify, investigate, and accurately report hate crimes and bias incidents; and

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP support national legislation to incentivize and encourage jurisdictions to accurately and uniformly report hate crimes to the FBI.