Worcester announced Tuesday the new City Manager’s Task Force on Bias and Hate Crimes is introducing an information and referral line for victims and witnesses of hate crimes.
The information and referral line will be staffed by unpaid volunteers who provide assistance, advice and possible intervention to people who believe they have been victims of or witnesses to a hate or bias crime.
Shirley Wright, director of Human Rights for the city, said the information and referral line helps people determine to whom they should report the incident.
“Once they would share what the circumstances were, we would try to intervene and assist them with who they do need to call,” Wright said. If the Task Force cannot intercede, Wright said victims and witnesses might be referred to the Worcester County Attorney General’s office or various civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP or the ACLU.
“Sometimes people simply don’t know who to call,” Wright said.
Wright stressed the line is not being advertised as a hotline, which would imply immediate assistance. People who call the line will leave their information with a phone-answering service and will receive a return call “within 48 hours,” Wright said.
“If it’s a hate crime in progress or an emergency, we instruct people to call 911,” Wright said.
The Task Force on Bias and Hate Crimes, a program officials have been developing for nearly two years, was “developed as a pro-active entity,” Wright said.
No specific incidents in Worcester prompted the development of the Task Force, but Wright said there was concern among city officials over the number of incidents nationwide in recent years.
“The city manager wanted to have a coalition of community groups begin to look at this issue so that if things did occur here, we would be able to respond,” she said.
The community groups represented in the Task Force include various faith groups; the local YMCA and YWCA; the school department; the Hispanic, Vietnamese, and African-American communities; the attorney general’s office, and some members of city government.
“Many people are not reporting hate crimes, and certainly this will give them an opportunity,” Wright said.
The Boston Police Department reported 769 hate crimes between 1997 and 2000, with 129 in Allston, Brighton, Back Bay, South End and Fenway.
Mayor Thomas Menino’s office would not return phone calls yesterday to answer questions regarding city programs or policies regarding hate or bias crimes in Boston.
university spokesperson Colin Riley said hate crimes are addressed in the Student Life Handbook.
“I am of the mind that there is a civic responsibility to report a crime as a victim or a witness,” Riley said. He urged students to report any and all incidents to the Boston University Police Department so that they may be appropriately addressed.
However, Riley said BU does not prosecute these crimes.
“We investigate and turn those investigations over to authorities, in this case, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office,” he said.
BUPD statistics dating back to 1997 do not report any hate crimes on either the Charles River or Medical School campuses.
Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire, BUPD’s supervisor of community policing, told The Daily Free Press, “Because of the resources we have, I don’t think we have much of a problem.”
BUPD maintains a website, works closely with the University, assigns officers to dorms and uses publications to spread information, St. Hilaire said.
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