By Becky Chan
Northwest Asian Weekly
SPD Chief Adrian Diaz speaking at hate crime information session after Tessa Gorman, Acting U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington, and Don Voiret, FBI Special Agent in Charge.
I stopped in the left-hand turn lane on my bike in Bothell, honks blared behind me. An impatient driver, I thought. I turned when the light turned green and a sedan passed me. Then a dark truck slowed beside me.
“Get off the f#$@% road, you f#$%* chink.” The words startled me, and I stole a glance at the white male driver. Feeling vulnerable and hoping for my safety, I did nothing and pedaled on. According to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), I should’ve reported the incident as a non-violent hate crime.
Law enforcement partnerships and reporting are key elements in hate crime investigations.
“We can’t do it alone; we can’t do it without the public’s help; and we can’t investigate incidents we don’t know about,” said FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge Don Voiret in his opening remarks in a Hate Crime Investigations Information Session for the media.
The July 14 event held at the FBI Seattle Office brought together area law enforcement partners to explain the process in investigation and prosecution of incidents possibly motivated by bias.
Representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO), SPD, and the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) also spoke.
Due to the rise of hate crimes, the FBI began a nationwide campaign in June to bring awareness and to encourage reporting. Since the bureau isn’t a first responder, it often works with local law enforcement entities on investigations and outreach programs. All partners present at the information session are active participants in the King County Hate Crime Working Group.
Hate crimes are investigated as traditional offenses with the added element of bias based on race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disabilities. Depending on the laws being violated and sentencing potential, investigators and prosecutors decide on the best way to charge either locally or federally.
Hate speech alone is protected by the First Amendment, freedom of speech. No matter how offensive the spoken act, it is not punishable by law. However, SPD encourages reporting of such incidents as non-criminal hate crimes. It can be as simple as someone yelling at a woman wearing a sari, “Go back to your own country.” Or in my case. The data collected is used in research. It can also further investigations.
“The reporting of hate crimes or incidents contribute to a larger conversation and a greater understanding of what these crimes look like, and how close to home they truly are,” said SPD Bias Crime Coordinator Det. Beth Wareing. The pattern of behavior can offer clues to investigations. The incidents may not be actionable at that time, but can later help locate serial offenders.
According to SPD, from 2019 to 2020, overall hate crimes and incidents were up 59%. Hate crimes are up 20%. The greatest increase is non-criminal hate crimes, up 92%. KCPAO filed 59 hate crimes in 2020, the highest ever filed. So far in 2021, 10 cases have been filed.
The state’s statute, RCW 9A.36.080, to prosecute hate crimes was called malicious harassment until the legislature changed it in 2019. At the state level, the three types of hate crimes are physical injury, property damage, and threat. KCPAO is ethically bound to only bring cases they believe can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime is bias based.
In March, KCPAO charged Christopher Hamner with three counts of malicious harassment after he yelled profanities and used the word “Asian” towards Asian women and children in two separate incidents.
Although the victims were not harmed, they were threatened. They reported the incidents independently.
Hamner was later identified as the suspect in both incidents. Hamner pleaded not guilty and is out on a reduction of bail from the proposed $75,000 to $10,000. His next court date is July 28.
Not all hate crime incidents are so straightforward. Perpetrators don’t always verbalize their intentions.
Most violent hate crimes are crimes of opportunity, without advance planning.
Noriko Nasu was brutally attacked with a rock-filled sock allegedly by Sean Jeremy Holdip in the Chinatown-International District (CID) in February. Nasu’s boyfriend was also attacked when he tried to help her. Because no words were uttered by the suspect, KCPAO couldn’t prove the crime was racially motivated. Holdip was charged with two counts of felony assault. KCPAO advised that their office hasn’t declined to file the case as a hate crime. If additional evidence surfaces, KCPAO will modify the charging decision.
In May, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law following a spike in anti-Asian attacks since the start of the pandemic. Tessa Gorman, Acting U.S. Attorney of Western District of Washington, said, “The Act increases grant funding for state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners to identify, track, and address unlawful acts of hate. We want to make it easier to report, and we want to make it easier to track.”
While hate crimes continue to increase, resources have not. SPD has lost over 200 officers since last year.
SPD Chief Adrian Diaz said the department is actively recruiting officers who speak multiple languages to reflect Seattle’s growing communities. Outreach to historically marginalized communities is a step forward to ease the mistrust in the criminal system. Under the SPD’s Collaborative Policing Bureau, the new Community Outreach and Engagement coordinator focuses on increasing relationships between CID and SPD.
SPD Safe Place posters in various languages
Language barrier is one of the intimidating factors of hate crime reporting for the marginalized. SPD Officer Dorian Korieo said SPD can handle 140 languages in 911 calls.
“All anybody needs to do when calling into 911 is just start speaking the language when the operator picks up.” A translator will then be patched through to help the call takers. Still, the process is daunting to those whose main language is not English.
Korieo is SPD’s Global Safe Place Coordinator. SPD’s Safe Place program began as a need to address low reporting of anti-LGBTQ+ crimes and school bullying incidents. To gain public trust in law enforcement and to achieve a feeling of safety in the community, the program was expanded in 2018 to include victims of bias crimes. SPD works with businesses and schools to create 7,000 safe havens in Seattle.
These are marked with Safe Place decals with QR codes. The stickers and documentation are in multiple languages including Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
Diaz said, “We are finding other ways to connect. We know we can do better, but only with input from the community we serve.”
Call 911 to report a hate crime to SPD. To file with the FBI, call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous.
Becky can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
You aptly described the perpetrator of the verbal diatribe hurled against you whilst riding a bike as a “white male driver”.
However, I’m just curious as to why you don’t describe Christopher Hamner, a BLM activist charged with anti-asian hate crimes against women and children as a black male. Or Sean Jeremy Holdip, who attacked Noriko Nasu in the Chinatown, as a black male.