As law enforcement officials who serve more than 50 percent of the nation's population, we see the devastating effects hate crime can have on victims and the public.
Hate crimes tear at the very fabric of our communities.
The Hate Crime Prevention Act will help local, state and federal officials bring those who commit destructive hate crimes to justice. Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum, in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, 1999. Although the vast majority of hate crimes are, and should be, investigated and prosecuted by state and local authorities, the IACP feels strongly that the federal government must also be provided with the authority to act in those limited cases in which local authorities are either unwilling or unable to act I am writing to inform you of our support for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. As members of the law enforcement community in Laramie, Wyoming, we are writing to ask for your help in securing passage of meaningful legislation to assist local law enforcement in combating bias crimes We respectfully urge you to do everything you can to give law enforcement the tools it needs to fight crime in this country. No community should have to go through what we have in the past year without the help of the federal government.