On September 27, King County Council unanimously passed legislation that will create a new community-based Stop Hateline and online portal to expand reporting channels for victims of hate crimes. The proposal is in response to a spike in hate crimes in King County since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If we are to more fully respond to the unprecedented surge in hate crimes we’ve seen in King County, we need to provide more reporting avenues for victims of these inhumane crimes,” said Assemblyman Reagan Dunn, who wrote the proposal. “In By not increasing reporting rates, we will only allow hate and bigotry crimes to flourish – no one in King County should face retaliation or even danger based on differences in race, religion, belief, appearance or other race. We .”
The new hotline and web-based reporting options build on the work of the King County Coalition Against Hate and Bias, which collects data on hate crime incidents through its Hate and Bias Incident Response Survey. Since its inception in mid-2020, the survey has reported 560 hate crime incidents.
The King County Attorney’s Office also found that reported hate crimes have been significantly higher than pre-COVID averages since the start of the pandemic, with hate crime filings peaking in February 2021 with a 157 percent increase. This is despite an increase in hate crime filings. Hate Crime Cases Hate crime incidents are known to be grossly underestimated.
With today’s approval, King County will begin developing a plan to implement the Stop Hate Line and Portal. This work will be led by the King County Office of Equity and Social Justice in partnership with the Coalition Against Hate and Bigotry and the Department of Community and Health Services.
The task force will meet on November 1, 2022, and submit a reporting system and awareness campaign plan to the King County Council by May 2, 2023.
