Content Variations in Police Agencies Written Hate Crime Policies

• In Event: Police Organizational Issues

Abstract

This study aims to advance knowledge on police written hate crime policy by examining variation in the content of these policies. Understanding these variations in hate crime policy content is key to building strong model hate crime policies for agencies that are yet to adopt a written policy. This study solicited written hate crime policies from all reporting agencies in Maryland and a sample of police agencies nationally. The policies were then coded across 9 content areas to determine variations in policy content. The analysis found large amounts of variation across written policies with lower levels of variation in more fundamental policy areas such as the reporting procedure and lesser levels of inclusion for areas such as outside resources. The results build a starting point for additional research testing the effectiveness of different forms of written policies which can better inform the development of the policies and decrease content variation. It also suggests that some police actions in response to hate crime are more established and common than others which should be considered alongside what the law says when evaluating the policing of hate crime.

Author

• William Dean Johnson, George Mason University