Report 2017-131 Recommendation 11 Responses

Report 2017-131: Hate Crimes in California: Law Enforcement Has Not Adequately Identified, Reported, or Responded to Hate Crimes (Release Date: May 2018)

Recommendation #11 To: Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department

To ensure that they accurately identify and report hate crimes, SFSU Police and LA Police should update their hate crime policies and procedures, and the Orange County Sheriff and Stanislaus County Sheriff should implement supplemental hate crime reports and require officers to use them.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

In May of 2018, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office replied to this recommendation and provided supporting documentation. It was explained to the audit team that we have an existing policy and a "supplemental hate crime" reporting methodology. The hate crime reporting is completed monthly and sent to the CA DOJ. Should the CA DOJ suggest a form other than what we currently use, we would be willing to evaluate. Our policy number is 338- Hate Crimes. It is available to the public via our department website www.scsdonline.com

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

Stanislaus Sheriff updated its hate crime policy and now requires officers to use supplemental hate crime reports.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2020

In May of 2018, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office replied to this recommendation and provided supporting documentation. It was explained to the audit team that we have an existing policy and a "supplemental hate crime" reporting methodology. The hate crime reporting is completed monthly and sent to the CA DOJ. Should the CA DOJ suggest a form other than what we currently use, we would be willing to evaluate. Our policy number is 338- Hate Crimes. It is available to the public via our department website www.scsdonline.com

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office has not implemented a supplemental hate crime report. The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, a commission responsible for setting minimum selection and training standards for California law enforcement, encourages law enforcement agencies to have techniques or methods in place to identify and handle hate crimes, such as a supplemental hate crime report form that patrol officers can use to more easily identify hate crimes. A supplemental hate crime report allows patrol officers to identify different elements of a hate crime, such as the type of bias (for example, bias toward race, disability, or sexual orientation) and bias indicators (for example, hate speech, property damage, or symbols). Until the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office implements methods to better identify hate crimes, the potential to misidentify hate crimes remains high.

1-Year Agency Response

Stanislaus County Sheriff failed to submit a response.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

6-Month Agency Response

Stanislaus County Sheriff did not respond to our recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

After numerous attempts to follow-up on this recommendation, we received no response from the Stanislaus County Sheriff.

60-Day Agency Response

As was thoroughly explained to the Audit Team including providing supporting documentation, we have existing policy and a "supplemental hate crime " reporting methodology and policy. Should DOJ suggest a form other than what we currently use, we would be happy to evaluate its use. We will forward the documents to aaronf@auditor.ca.gov

Thank you for providing us the opportunity to work with you.

Sheriff Adam E. Christianson

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

The documentation provided by the Stanislaus County Sheriff is the same documentation that it provided to us during the audit. Although Stanislaus County Sheriff has a crime report form with a box to indicate whether a crime is a hate crime, the form lacks many elements specific to hate crimes. For example, the supplemental hate crime form used by LA Police allows patrol officers to identify different elements of a hate crime, such as the type of bias (for example, bias toward the victim's race, disability, or sexual orientation) and bias indicators (for example, hate speech, property damage, or symbols). The Stanislaus County Sheriff current crime report form does not include these elements, which are crucial when prosecuting hate crime cases.

Stanislaus County Sheriff's current hate crime policy already requires deputies to fill out all necessary reports. Thus, once it implements a supplemental hate crime report form, this recommendation will be fully implemented.

All Recommendations in 2017-131

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.