Community leaders urge IL lawmakers to pass bill requiring officer training on hate crime incidents
CHICAGO (WLS) -- It seems more and more Illinoisans are dealing with incidents of hate.
"Too often, our communities experience hate and bigotry without receiving the justice they deserve," said Upneet Teji with the Sikh Coalition.
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On Monday, a coalition of multi-ethnic leaders urged action for those in law enforcement to be better trained to deal with these types of cases.
Illinois Senate Bill 3552 would require all officers in Illinois be trained on how to identity these incidents and assist victims.
"It's one thing you walk up and hit someone, assault someone. Well, what did, they yelled something. Those are the types of trainings that law enforcement needs to be standard," said David Goldenberg with the Anti-Defamation League.
The coalition points to the most recent data from the FBI in 2023, which shows a spike in hate crimes nationally over 11,000, and in Illinois, over 300 in 2022 and 2023.
While the FBI does not have data for this year, a Chicago Islamic center was vandalized after a man shouted anti-Islamic comments, and a Jewish man walking to temple in Rogers Park was shot. Those are just a couple of the incidents reported in Chicago in 2024.
On Monday, the speakers in Bronzeville emphasized that there are many more unreported incidents.
"Our report also highlighted a disturbing trend: Under-reporting of hate crimes due to barriers such as language, lack of cultural competency and a distrust of authorities in immigrant communities," said Shobhana Johri Verma with the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute.
"The first responders have the ability to take it seriously and treat them with respect and avoid re-traumatizing them or they have the ability to cause more harm," added Elana Kahn with the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and will go to the House in an expected lame duck session before the new General Assembly is sworn in in January.
