SFPD undercover hate-crime crackdown

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Fears of elevated bigotry and increased hate crimes have become a reality for some Americans after Donald Trump's Presidential win.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has tallied more than 700 cases of harassment or intimidation in the U.S. in the week following the Election.

Now the City of San Francisco is taking an active stance against hate crimes.

SPFD announced that it is starting a new operation placing plainclothes officers in areas where hate crimes have been previously reported.

"We all stand together against hate," said Mayor Ed Lee on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, flanked by police and the Human Rights Commission.

Interim Police Chief Toney Chaplin says officers will be stationed in various neighborhoods to try to prevent prejudiced-based crimes and, should a crime happen, to make arrests.

The idea came from the SFPD program where plainclothes officers dress up in rival sports gear for football and baseball games to crack down on unruly fans.

"We're going to take that concept and move it into the hate crime realm so that we can get our officers out in the communities you know because we have a seen a spike in hate crimes in this country," said Chaplin.
Last week, in just two of several hate crime cases in the Bay Area, a woman wearing a headscarf says she was the target of an anti-Muslim hate crime in Fremont where vandals smashed her car window and left a nasty note about her hijab.

At a high school in Danville, someone scrawled "whites" and "colored" over urinals in a bathroom.

San Francisco City Officials say they link the recent uptick in hate crimes to the anti-immigrant rhetoric associated with Donald's Trump's Presidential campaign. They said today's announcement was made in effort to "get ahead" of the problem.

"I think we want to remain an open welcome city and some people may not feel that if we're not enforcing the very laws that we put on the books that says if you wear a hijab, you can be as protected as if you got a nose ring or that you look different," said Mayor Lee. "We're all going to be protective of everybody because that diversity makes us one of the most American cities ever in the country."

To combat intolerance, the Human Rights Commission said it would also be providing services: an educational campaign, discussion forums, and training and awareness events.

There are also 24-hour hotlines where anyone can report a hate crime.

SF HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (415) 252-2500
SF DISTRICT ATTORNEY HATE CRIMES HOTLINE (415) 551-9595
SF POLICE DEPT. HATE CRIMES DIVISION (415) 553-1133
CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF FAIR EMPLOYMENT & HOUSING (800) 884-1684
　
When asked about the possibility of Trump yanking federal funding from sanctuary cities like San Francisco, Mayor Lee said he will refrain from comment until the president elect "does" something as opposed to what he "says" he's going to do.