Dallas Police Dept. needs a Hate Crimes Unit
As a note prior to this essay, another necessary element to prevent hate crimes would be a Human Rights Commission in Dallas to not only provide oversight as to the function of a Police Hate Crimes unit, but also to propose policies, actions, projects, programs to reduce the hatred out of which these crimes spring forth and to provide recommendations and policies for professionals to intervene with disturbed individuals.
Dallas needs a human rights commission to identify and recommend things such as the DPD having a hate crimes unit and seeing how effectively they function.
Dallas Police Department needs a Hate Crimes Unit
I can see it now. Some insane person shoots up a Gay or Lesbian club on the Strip. It will turn out upon investigation that it had been obvious for some time that this person was a menace and it is absolutely no surprise that he committed a massacre.
There will be condolences, maybe a sad op-ed in the Dallas Morning News about hate filled hearts and an essay filled with a sunshine and butterflies sentimentality, flowers left at the site of the massacre, the policy stating that they are on the job, interviews with grieving friends and relatives of the victims.
What won’t be discussed much is how could this have been prevented and how it will be prevented from happening again, excepting a call for gun control, as if there are no other possibilities to prevent these massacres.
Given that the possibilities of getting gun control policies implemented in the United States is very unlikely, only proposing gun control, is to essentially proposing to do nothing. I am not arguing against proposing some gun control, was I am arguing against is only doing that.
Doing the other things isn’t bad, but it mustn’t obscure, eclipse, preclude a conversation on how the hate crime could have been prevented and what could be done from it reoccurring in the situation in which we currently exist.
Dallas Police Department needs a Hate Crime Unit.
Ignoring Warning Signs in Colorado Springs
One thing that really stands out in the massacre at the Q Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado is that the perpetrator, Anderson Lee Aldrich was able to have guns even though the police had to evacuate a neighborhood in 2021 when Aldrich made bomb threats against his mother. [Note to Texans, Colorado Springs, Colorado is in El Paso County in Colorado.]
This article is about a neighborhood being evacuated when he threatened his mother.
In the following link, in the video, starting a little after 3:40 this video shows Aldrich raising his hands while surrendering to a tactical squad.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/21/us/anderson-lee-aldrich-colorado-springs-shooting-suspect
Colorado has a Red Flag law to flag people that shouldn’t have guns, but it appears public officials weren’t doing their job. The following is an Associated Press article, “Gay club shooting suspect evaded Colorado’s red flag gun law.”
No formal charges were pursued so there was no record on which to deny him getting lots of deadly weapons though he had a clear cut record of being dangerous.
What it appears is that the local law enforcement didn’t take the potential threat of this person with mental health problems seriously. Maybe if they had a hate crimes unit they wouldn’t have been so clueless and watched this guy and not let him acquire a small arsenal of deadly weapons.
Ignoring Warning Sings in the Shoot up of a Korean Shop Owner in Dallas.
In Dallas a Korean Beauty Shop owner was shot up by a crazed person, Jeremy Theron Smith, with anti-Asian prejudices it got a lot of press coverage. It turns out that people who knew him also knew that he was obsessed with hostility towards Asians and was very open about it. What was also reported was that there had been attacks on other Asian owned businesses in the weeks prior. The police chief had originally said it was not a hate crime, but when they found the perpetrator, it was a person with extreme hostility towards Asians and had a prior history of violence toward Asians. This is the news article about the person who shot the shop owner. There were multiple opportunities for intervention.
Also from the article:
Police are also investigating two other shootings that targeted Asian-run businesses in Dallas in the days and weeks before the attack. Police described a similar colored minivan in all three incidents.
There was no news follow up if these other two shootings were by the same person.
Originally Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said it was not a hate crime.
https://apnews.com/article/crime-police-shootings-dallas-d6eda85c5075fca6da138651dbbf66a7
Though Garcia changed his position on whether it was or wasn’t a hate crime really quick after there was a backlash to his opinion. You have to wonder how proactive Dallas Police are to potential hate crimes happening.
The Dallas Love Field Airport Shooter Shuffled Through the Criminal Justice System.
This woman who started shooting at Dallas Love Field airport was crazy as the link to the following article explains.
What becomes obvious is that Dallas County didn’t take it seriously that she was a danger to the community and just sort of shuffled her around. Some quotes:
As recently as last summer a Dallas County judge found the woman accused of opening fire inside a terminal at Dallas Love Field airport was not a danger to others, Dallas County records show.
Another quote:
Court records show she has previously faced charges including arson, robbery, criminal trespass and false reporting — all filed in cities across North Texas over the past several years. The outcomes of some cases were unclear Monday though several were dismissed.
Anothe quote:
One of the most serious cases stemmed from a 2019 arson arrest in Mesquite. The Dallas County District Attorney’s office rejected the arson case because of a lack of scientific evidence, District Attorney John Creuzot said. …
Odufuwa was standing outside, watching it burn, and requested to speak with a police officer. She told the officer she was “responsible for the fire,” according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.
The officer asked her if she started the fire intentionally, and she said “yes,” the affidavit said.
The article says that the home owner wanted to pursue charges.
Fortunately Portia Odufuwa, who thought she was “God’s Prophet,” didn’t get it into her head to go shoot up Gay people at a local Gay bar.
There might be a total lunatic out there who has a long record of violent and crazy behavior, and how the County and City and criminal justice system just thought he was a bother and let him loose on society and he ends up shooting up a Gay bar.
A Hate Crimes Unit could review these cases and make proposals to not let issues be neglected until the person goes on a shooting spree and maybe massacres some group of people.
We need a Hate Crimes Unit
With a Hate Crimes Unit, even if it is one person, you can have a unit specializing in the prevention of hate crimes and responding to hate crimes in progress. What other hate crime units are in existence in the United States and elsewhere. What do they do? Are there any best practices advisories for a hate crime unit. Even if there are no other hate crime units in existence then Dallas has the opportunity to be a pioneer in developing a unit to prevent hate crimes.
Before going further with this essay, let’s not accept the use of the false opposition, the statement that a Hate Crimes Unit can’t prevent all hate crimes likely made by persons not wanting to have a Hate Crimes Unit. If we can prevent most hate crimes that otherwise would have happened that would be really good. Even if it was only a reduction of 25%, a Hate Crimes Unit would still be well worth the cost and effort put into it.
Also, we don’t know what might be done until we try.
A Hate Crimes unit could write an official report for each hate crime indicating where earlier intervention would have been effective on preventing the hate crime from occurring.
Annually a hate crimes unit could issue a report on the hate crimes that occurred in the prior year and also over a prior five-year period to understand where the focus should be for preventative action, what prevention measures were effective and which weren’t, and what might be done in the future.
A hate crimes unit could advise other sections in the police department and other relevant departments in city government and share information with the local county government.
The results of these reports would provide information for other groups as to what they might do to intervene to prevent a massacre. For judges and parole officers does the person fit the profile of a person who committed a massacre or hate crime? For mental health professionals does the person you are reviewing fit the profile?
A hate crimes unit might have some guidelines as to what businesses and individuals might do to prevent attacks or do during an attack.
For the Gay community a hate crimes unit on either the basis of incidences of hate crimes in the Gayborhood or on the basis of threats online, might recommend increased police patrols for the Gayborhood. This might be good for other communities.
A hate crimes unit might be useful in organizing a citizens group to watch the neighborhood.
A hate crimes unit might issue a warning to a community to be on their guard.
Now there will be naysayers that this won’t work, that won’t work, and that other thing won’t work either. But these naysayers won’t be saying what will work.
Also, besides the annual and five-year reports I mention, how this information might be useful, my previous suggestions are just suggestions. A professional working in a hate crimes unit might come up with an entirely different set of actions and suggestions.
So don’t try to pick at my suggestions to avoid doing anything at all.
The point is that we need a hate crimes unit if only to monitor the progress of the Dallas Police Department in reducing and preventing hate crimes.
One massacre prevented is worth having a hate crimes unit.
The alternative is just to hope it doesn’t happen and then have a lot of flowers and sad speeches and condolences when it does.
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