Report 2017-131 Recommendation 13 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 #13 To: Los Angeles Police Department

To ensure accurate and complete reporting, LA Police and SFSU Police should provide sufficient guidance and oversight to their officers and staff so that they report all hate crimes to DOJ.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

The Department has the following to provide accurate and complete reporting of Hate Crimes:

-Hate Crimes Investigation Video

-Chief's Messages on Hate Crimes

-Public Engagement Section, Office of Operations

-Area and Department Hate Crime Coordinators

-Revised and newly established forms to capture data and facilitate DOJ reporting

-Detailed Department Policy with responsibilities outlined for multiple entities throughout the Department regarding investigating, reporting and DOJ notifications for hate crimes

-Hate Crime Policy, Special Order No. 32, dated December 17, 2020

-Hate Crime Information Circular

-Hate Crime Resource Pamphlet, Form 15.91.00

-Hate Crime Field Notebook Divider, Form 18.44.00

-Hate Crimes Tools and Resources Card, Form 15.95.00

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

LA Police has developed additional guidance and its updated hate crime policy details oversight responsibilities for each precinct's hate crime coordinator.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019

Robbery-Homicide Division conducts quarterly training to the LAPD Hate Crime Coordinators in legal issues, on the DOJ Hate Crime LIVE database, hate crime trends, and investigative tools. All the LAPD hate crime investigators attended training with CA DOJ on hate crime investigations and proper federal notifications.

Once the new LAPD hate crime policy is approved, the new policy will be sent out to all officers via special order and included in the Department manual. The LAPD Department Manual and a Special Order will be distributed to each individual officer. The officer must then electronically acknowledge that they received the order through the LAPD Learning Management System.

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

1-Year Agency Response

Department Training: Robbery-Homicide Division conducts quarterly training to the LAPD Hate Crime Coordinators in legal issues, on the DOJ Hate Crime LIVE database, hate crime trends, and investigative tools. All the LAPD hate crime investigators attended the Museum of Tolerance Hate Crime, Tools for Tolerance Hate Crime for First Responders and Investigators course. LAPD has scheduled additional training with CA DOJ on hate crime investigations and proper federal notifications.

Once the new LAPD hate crime policy is approved, the new policy will be sent out to all officers via special order and included in the Department manual. The LAPD Department Manual and a special order will be distributed to each individual officer. The officer must then electronically acknowledge that they received the order through the LAPD Learning Management System.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

Department Training: Robbery-Homicide Division conducts quarterly training to the LAPD Hate Crime Coordinators in legal issues, on the DOJ Hate Crime LIVE database, hate crime trends, and investigative tools. Half of the forty-six LAPD hate crime investigators are scheduled to attend the Museum of Tolerance Hate Crime, Tools for Tolerance Hate Crime for First Responders and Investigators course on December 12, 2018. The remaining hate crime investigators will attend the class in January 2019.

Once the new LAPD hate crime policy is approved, the new policy will be included in the 2019 LAPD Department Manual and a special order will be distributed to each individual officer. The officer must then electronically acknowledge that they received the order through the LAPD Learning Management System.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

CSA Report: The CSA comments on the LAPD response incorrectly stated that the "LA Police relies on a crime charging manual (CCM), not the law, to determine whether an event constitutes a hate incident or a hate crime." The crime charging manual is a reference guide created by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, which includes California Penal Code sections (the law) and explains the elements of that crime to assist Deputy District Attorneys which file cases on which charges are appropriate in each case. The LAPD also consulted with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office Hate Crimes Unit, which is responsible for prosecuting Hate Crimes in Los Angeles County, who concurred with the LAPD's findings with the specific facts for each case. The CSA in-house counsel disagreed with the Los Angeles County District Attorneys responsible for handling the prosecution of Hate Crimes.

Department Training: RHD conducts quarterly training to the LAPD Hate Crime Coordinators in legal issues, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Hate Crime LIVE database, Hate Crime trends and investigative tools.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Will Not Implement

We stand by our recommendation that LA Police should implement additional guidance and oversight to ensure that officers and staff report all hate crimes to DOJ. During our review, we found that LA Police failed to report to DOJ 89 of 622, or 14 percent, of hate crimes. LA Police needs to develop additional procedures to ensure that hate crimes are reported.

All Recommendations in 2017-131

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.