Clark County residents will have a new way to report hate crimes after the county was chosen as one of three to participate in the pilot program for a new state-run hotline.
Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 5427, creating a hate crime and bias incident hotline within the Washington Attorney General’s Office. People can call to receive resources, such as counseling, and staffers will share the reports with law enforcement, if the person reporting gives their consent.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the hotline will collect valuable statewide data that officials don’t currently have.
“This pilot will set the foundation for a first-of-its-kind centralized, statewide resource for Washingtonians to report hate crimes and bias incidents,” Ferguson said in a news release. “The hotline will help victims of hate crimes and bias incidents find culturally appropriate resources and support. We must all work together to combat hate and stand up for individuals and communities who are harmed.”
Ferguson’s office announced Wednesday that the hotline will be tested in Clark, King and Spokane counties. The pilot program is scheduled to be operational by July 1, 2025, and will expand to the rest of the state by that date in 2027, according to the news release.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office said Clark County was chosen as a test site because of the number of established services, such as the county’s Crisis Line, and the number of hate crimes reported in the area.
“In 2022, the city of Vancouver Police Department reported 113 hate crimes to the FBI — nearly as many as the city of Seattle, although Seattle has four times the population,” Brionna Aho said in an email. “People are reporting hate crimes to law enforcement, and law enforcement is accurately categorizing hate crimes.”
Clark County Sheriff John Horch celebrated the way the hotline will help law enforcement investigate these crimes.
“Clark County is becoming more demographically diverse, and I’m pleased that our county is participating in this program,” he said in the news release.
County Council Chair Gary Medvigy expressed his support for the county’s selection.
“Fundamental human rights and mutual respect are the hallmarks for Clark County residents, but when hate surfaces, having a hotline to report it and find help will be a great additional resource,” he said in the news release.
In 2022, law enforcement agencies received reports of more than 11,000 hate-crime incidents nationwide, with more than half of those having to do with the victim’s race or ethnicity. That year in Washington, there were 530 reports of hate crimes, again with the largest category being those targeted for their race or ethnicity, according to data from the FBI. Data for 2023 has not yet been released.
The hotline will be open during business hours and accessible in a variety of languages, the Attorney General’s Office said. Ferguson will also complete annual reports based on the information collected through the program; his first report will be due July 1, 2027.
Ferguson will also convene an advisory committee to help with the program’s operations and building the network of resources. The committee will include people from community organizations that work with underserved groups, culturally-specific service providers, state agency representatives and others. Anyone interested in joining the committee should contact policy_team@atg.wa.gov.
