City Police Will Begin Tracking Hate Crimes

Concerned about a recent rash of hate crimes, San Diego police have revised their crime-reporting system and plan to begin recording crimes based on racial, ethnic and religious bigotry.

“Unfortunately, we are cursed as being the center of a small group of white power, white supremacy people in the north area of our county,” Police Chief Bob Burgreen said Thursday.

“And there’s no question in my mind that that influence is being felt and that many people are being influenced by that type of thinking. And that kind of thinking at times makes me ashamed to be white.”

Police statistics show that 15 hate crimes have been logged since Nov. 12.

The more publicized incidents involved the defacement of an Israeli cultural center in Balboa Park and, earlier, the Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Carlos.

A 17-year-old Latino youth was attacked Dec. 9 by two Asian males in South Bay who were wielding a baseball bat and a tire iron and shouting racist slurs.

That same day, an unidentified man telephoned a woman and threatened her with rape, which San Diego police spokesman Dave Cohen said is also considered a hate crime. “That crime was not being directed at this woman because of who she is, but because she was a woman,” Cohen said.

Burgreen said that police officers responding to crimes will now note in their reports whether the offense was motivated by racial, religious or ethnic hatred. The chief said the data will be computer-analyzed, with the hope of spotting similarities and leads that may lead to arrests.

“That is going to enable us, through our records system and through our networking of law enforcement agencies, to do a much better job of tracking hate crimes, particularly those that might be a pattern or a series,” he said.

Also tracking hate crimes is the County Human Relations Commission’s Hate Crimes Registry, and Cohen said state law provides for a maximum six-month jail sentence and $5,000 fine for a hate crime conviction.