By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Against the backdrop of a rise in hate crimes and bias incidents, since President Donald Trump took office, the City of Bellevue held a panel and open Q&A session, in an effort to share information and build trust between the community and police.
The panel’s moderator was Knight Sor, who has worked at the United States Department of Justice as a senior peacemaker for the last 16 years.
Bias and hate crimes are “insidious” acts, Sor said, because such acts send “a message—not only to the victims and those associated with the victims, but also the community that identifies with the victims.”
Sor said that he encourages victims of hate and bias crimes to report these crimes, because “for us within the DOJ, if you don’t report, if you don’t see it on paper or in a file, it doesn’t exist.”
“[If] there is a mistrust between police and the community, we can work on that mistrust because there are times when a third party can actually report on behalf of the victims,” Sor said.
Because of this mistrust—which was particularly heightened during the summer of 2020—Sor said, the DOJ has worked with local prosecutors to create different ways to report bias incidents. These different mechanisms allow community members to send emails, photos, videos, and more directly to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also assigns special agents to monitor the email account.
Bellevue also works with Language Line, which helps people whose first language is not English report incidents, as well as an app that allows deaf people to report incidents.
Difference jurisdictions define hate crimes and bias incidents differently. King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) Victim Advocate Emily Navarro-Williams, who works specifically in the realm of hate crimes and vulnerable populations, explained that, in King County, a bias incident would include something like spewing racist or homophobic rhetoric against a person. However, if that rhetoric included a physical element—like an assault, murder, arson, or vandalism—then that would be a prosecutable crime, she said.
“Unfortunately, racism and expressing racist beliefs is not illegal,” Navarro-Williams said, but added that she believes the federal government has “a different interpretation or a different law surrounding hate crime and what they can prosecute versus what we can prosecute.”
Like Sor, Navarro-Williams encouraged listeners to report hate crimes to local law enforcement, because the KCPAO can only prosecute someone for a hate crime, if they receive a referral from local law enforcement.
Bellevue Police Department (BPD) Officer Denzel Kankam explained the process of reporting a hate crime or bias incident. When a person calls 9-1-1 in BPD’s jurisdiction, he said, they are transferred to the NORCOM system. The officer who answers will ask questions that may feel frightening or retraumatizing, but that is not the intent. The intent is to gather critical information—and, Kankam said, “It’s okay if you don’t remember things, because it’s very common whenever a person [has] experienced a critical incident or trauma that their mind is in survivor mode. You’re going to forget some things.”
Kankam said that he and his fellow officers would listen for specific words, and try to establish if a crime has taken place. When it comes to establishing potential hate crimes, Kankam said that he listens for whether the assailant used racial slurs, and what they were doing, when using those slurs.
“Another thing to note is we have some individuals here in Bellevue that will just randomly yell out racial slurs, and it’s usually because they’re having some type of behavioral or mental issues going on with them,” Kankam said. “And some people will call us and report that we’re aware of those people. But when relating to the hate and bias, it’s just important to understand that if there’s no criminal element in there, we can still take the report.”
If the incident is established as a hate crime, and ends up going to court, there is no obligation for the survivor of the hate crime to appear in court. However, Navarro-Williams said, it can be “extremely important” for the victim of a hate crime in King County to testify.
“I don’t want to say it relies solely on victim testimony, but we do need victims to testify in court. As an advocate, it is my job to ensure that that process goes as [seamlessly] and as smoothly as possible,” Navarro-Williams said. “I can’t promise it’s going to be painless because it is a form of re-traumatization, but I would be there alongside that person.”
But there have been cases where the survivor is not willing to testify, Navarro-Williams said.
“That’s when the prosecutor and I will discuss, ‘What is a meaningful outcome for this person? What is their interpretation of justice in these cases?’” Navarro-Williams said. “There are other methods that we can use, like pleading a case out, that don’t require a victim to come and testify in court.”
If someone is released back onto the street, prior to a formal trial—which usually happens, and is not an indicator of whether the court has found someone innocent or guilty—a judge can issue a restraining order or a no-contact order.
Even if the incident does not rise to the level of hate crime, it’s still important to report, Lauren Applewood of the Bellevue Diversity Advisory Network said. Each report can potentially help to establish a pattern of behavior of an individual.
“There may not be a complete picture that’s painted, but there may be more information that follows, or there may simply be another incident that an officer is not aware of, and we start to see a pattern,” Applewood explained. “All of that fills into a bigger picture.”
In her 28 years of work within the justice system, Applewood said, she often sees defendants try to claim that it is the first time they have ever done something like that—“that people will often say, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, officer. I just lost my head.’”
“But,” she continued, “if we have a case file that shows that this particular person has a history of engaging in this kind of behavior, it’s very helpful.”