Fight Hate: The Response Protocol

If you have joined an existing hate-crime task force and established a response network, you will have identified:

Community network mission
Network members and resources
Network members' roles and responsibilities

The next phase in the process is to formalize a response protocol. Begin by convening a meeting to coordinate resources, identify members you may have overlooked, and craft a response protocol for each network member to follow when housing-related hate activity occurs. Many hate incidents never rise to the level of a hate crime. Fair housing groups have a special role to play because they can intervene and decrease tensions before they escalate.

1. Choose Network Coordinators

It is generally recommended that three organizations take primary responsibility for coordinating the network. The police, victim service providers, and the local fair housing organization or other civil rights organizations are natural candidates for this role because of their expertise directly related to hate response and fair housing. Ultimately, choose the coordinators based on their commitment to sustaining an active network and their internal capacity for doing so. The network should not seek to "reinvent the wheel." Thus, if the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) or a special hate crimes division of the local police department is already active in coordinating hate response, fair housing groups should work to fill any gaps in service and offer a fair housing element to the existing structure. National experience indicates that even groups skilled in hate crime response do not typically possess specific fair housing expertise. At the same time, some fair housing organizations do not have experience in hate activity response. Working together can increase knowledge, skills and effectiveness of all groups participating.

2. Choose Response Coordinators

Once you have determined which organizations will coordinate the network, designate two or three response coordinators as central points of contact. Provide names, telephone numbers, pager and cell phone numbers. Be sure to designate a backup coordinator in case of an emergency.

3. Create a Response Checklist

Your next step will be to begin crafting a protocol for the network to follow when housing-related hate activity occurs in your community. By developing and implementing a crisis response protocol and a checklist that includes a clear role for each network member, the network will avoid oversights or duplication of resources in coordinating the response to housing-related hate activity.

4. Establish the Initial Point of Communication

An effective protocol needs a communication mechanism to identify problems and alert network members. The initial point of contact for most housing-related hate activity will likely be a call to the police department or 911.

The network should establish a good relationship with the local police department and offer viable resources to complement what the department is already doing in the area of hate prevention and response. By doing this, the network will increase its credibility with the police and the likelihood of police cooperation. This is particularly important in ensuring that the network finds out immediately about the occurrence of all housing-related hate crimes and is viewed as a viable response partner.

5. Design a Response Protocol

Although each network will create its own response protocol (see Victim Care and Assistance), the following steps outline the basic guidelines that your network should include in its protocol:

The police contact or investigating officer contacts a network coordinator about a housing-related hate crime or activity as soon as possible after its occurrence.
The response coordinators discuss appropriate action and convene a response team composed of a few network members-for example, a social worker, fair housing center staff, media/public contact person and conflict mediator-whose expertise best corresponds to the situation.
The designated response team determines exactly what has occurred and the immediate needs of both the victim and the community.
The response team addresses immediate victim needs.
The response team reports back to the network coordinators.
The network coordinators convene a full meeting of the response network to fill out the Rapid Response Checklist provided at the end of this manual. Based on their responses to the checklist, the network will be able to assess what intermediate and long-term plans are necessary. The network can then create a schedule to implement all identified next steps and assign tasks to network members.

The next steps will most likely include all of the following: