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Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety recently released its updated policies about hate crimes and bias-related incidents. 

Releasing the policies was a recommendation from former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who published an independent review in February outlining 23 recommendations for improving the department.

Lynch’s 97-page report is the product of a year-long investigation into how the department interacts with members of the campus community and how officers interacted with students during protests on campus this past year.

Lynch served as attorney general under former President Barack Obama and is now a partner at the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm. She and her team spoke to students, DPS officers and university administrators and examined more than 20,000 documents in their review. 

Here’s a breakdown of the department’s updated policies about hate and bias on campus:

Hate incidents

DPS has updated its policies to adopt the term “hate incident.” 

Lynch and her team recommended that DPS adopt the term to refer to bias-motivated incidents that cannot be characterized as hate crimes and also recommended that officers be trained to know how to identify both.

The policy defines a “hate incident” as any non-criminal conduct that is “motivated by hatred or bigotry” and directed at a specific person or entity due to their real or perceived race, gender identity, religion, disability, age, sexual identity or any other “protected category” identified in SU’s Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity policy statement and New York state law. 

Hate incidents can also include conduct against a person because of their association with or advocacy for a group of a specific identity.

The policies were also updated to include “protected categories” in hate or bias motives. These motives are defined as “hatred, hostility or negative attitudes towards, or prejudice against any group or individual.”

Hate crimes and training

Lynch also said that the department should make its process for investigating hate crimes public, including the limits of its authority when it comes to making arrests and prosecuting suspects of hate crimes.

The policy defines a hate crime as any criminal act that is “motivated by hatred or bigotry” that is directed at an individual based on any of the same “protected categories” as those listed for hate incidents.

Lynch and her team also said that DPS should make changes to its training academy to specifically train new officers about community policing and problem solving, as well as the investigation of hate crimes and hate incidents. The academy should also incorporate training about victim and witness engagement, they said.

Officers should also receive regular anti-bias training that addresses interactions with students from different backgrounds, according to the report. Officers in the department should be evaluated based on elements of community policing, such as problem-solving capabilities and knowledge of procedural justice.

A new “training” section in the policy states that all DPS employees will receive initial training upon hire as well as annual training in the identification and investigation of hate crimes and hate incidents.

DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado announced in an email Wednesday that the department had begun scheduling training on hate crimes, procedural justice, principled policing and trauma-informed policing.

Published on April 4, 2021 at 11:27 pm

Contact Sarah: [email protected] | @sarahalessan