Fellow Community Members Support Victims of Hate Crimes

Community groups with members of south Asian American descent have teamed up with several other civil rights organizations to publicize the news of Indian American from San Francisco, CA who had been the subject of a racial assault during a vacation in Lake Tahoe, CA.

"Hate crimes against any individual of any community are absolutely deplorable and when they happen, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law so the message gets out that this type of incident is not acceptable in our communities," stated Shirin Sinnar, who happens to be the staff attorney for the Asian Law Caucus.

A husband and wife were arraigned on the 22nd of August and charged with hate crimes. 53-year-old Joseph Frank Silva and his wife, Georgia Ruth Silva, 49, were both charged with misdemeanor hate crime charges in El Dorado County Superior Court after the incident that occurred on July 14th of this year. The attack resulted in the victim having broken bones in his face. The couple pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Mr. Silva also pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges.

"I've been involved in hate crimes issues since before 9/11," stated Harmeet K. Dhillon, a member of the civil rights committee of the South Asian Bar Association. "I guess my first reaction to this incident was deep disappointment and sadness that so many years after 9/11, which really triggered this wave of hate crimes against South Asians in this country and northern California, these types of incidents are still happening and, if anything, they seem to be accelerating in terms of their number and level of violence."

It is unfortunate that the world has to hear about issues like this one, but hopefully it will raise awareness about the dangers and consequences that hate crimes can create.

Teach Kids Crime Prevention When They Are Young

A large amount of police officers, roughly four hundred, have created a mission known as "Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Michigan." These officers are lobbying lawmakers on both state and federal levels to raise finances for early teaching and other crime prevention programs. These officers have received help from the Muskegon County's Great Start Collaborative, and they proposed their message to Muskegon last week. It was there that they met with roughly thirty people, which consisted of representatives from various education and health agencies, as well as city and county commissioners and lawmakers on a local level.

"We are advocates for improving programs that help direct children toward opportunity and success before they become delinquents," stated K.P. Pelleran, director of the Fight Crime initiative for the state of Michigan.

The officers and their associates called for more financial backing for preschool programs to help put a stop to child abuse and negligence as well as investing for after-school programs.
"The longer I'm in office, the more important I realize it is to focus on prevention," mentioned Tony Tague, who has been the Muskegon County's prosecutor for twenty-five years.

New Mexico Crime Prevention Gets Federal Boost

New Mexico may be getting a some much needed crime prevention assistance from the Federal Government now that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved its FY2008 funds to prevent crime and improve the New Mexico's crime prevention capabilities, this includes a quarter million dollars for upgrades to Albuquerque's public safety information system.

The almost fity-five billion dollar bill includes money for Albuquerque, which will be utilized to implement a comprehensive public information system that includes a new dispatch and mobile computing system, a law enforcement records management system, as well as an automated reporting system.

Money was also approved for several projects that are specifically aimed at preventing crime among New Mexico youth, including a half million dollars for the New Mexico Police Athletic League to run its Gang Prevention-Intervention program. The program interfaces with school systems, communities, and local law enforcement agencies to provide positive activities to deter those involved in gangs, or at risk of joining.

"These programs seek to intervene before the negative effects of gangs and drugs have had a chance to take hold. I commend their valuable work and will do all I can to ensure this funding is included in the FY2008 final spending package," U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici said.

The New Mexico Department of Public Safety will also receive one hundred thousand dollars in FY2008 funds for equipment to combat crystal meth use in New Mexico.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Crime Safety 365 blog!