King County Council considering specialized hate crime unit for sheriff's office

King County Council considering specialized hate crime unit within Sheriff’s Dept

The vote would come after a spike in hate crimes during the pandemic, particularly against Asian Americans

KING COUNTY - As the nationwide conversation continues on how to handle an alarming spike in hate crimes against Asian-Americans, the King County Council will soon consider if it should invest in a specialized hate crimes unit within the sheriff’s office.

King County Council Vice Chairman Reagan Dunn says that investment would be roughly $600,000, with the special unit made up of four deputies and one support staff member.

"If you want to make a difference in hate crimes you have to make an investment, and now is the time to make that investment," Dunn says. "I think it’s a small price to pay to make sure members of our community are well protected against this heinous type of crime."

A new study released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University - San Bernardino took data from 16 major US cities and found that hate crimes as whole went down 7% nationwide in 2020, but hate crimes specifically targeting Asian Americans went up 149%.

Dunn says the unit wouldn’t only investigate hate crimes, but also provide outreach for the community.

"We really do a better job of promoting the reporting of those hate crimes, because the theory of prosecution is deterrent. You investigate, charge, and prosecute to try to deter future criminal activity."

In Washington state, someone is the victim of a hate crime if they were maliciously and intentionally targeted because of their race, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, or a disability, among other things.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office saw a large spike in these cases in 2020 with 59 cases, compared to 39 in 2019. So far this year they’ve had 10 hate crime cases filed that all occurred in the city of Seattle.

"Only a third of these crimes are being reported, we need to do better than that and we need to enforce that. If you’re going to commit hate crimes in King County it’s not going to be tolerated," says Dunn.

Members of the county council will vote on this in the near future.

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King County Crime and Public Safety