FBI Dallas Encourages Hate Crime Reporting; Reveals New Awareness Efforts
DALLAS—The FBI Dallas Division is joining the FBI’s nationwide efforts to increase awareness about hate crimes and encourage reporting of hate incidents by releasing new local billboard, digital, and community art elements. Advertising efforts are focused on the Division’s rural and outer Resident Agency territories with billboards appearing in Lubbock, Tyler, and Abilene; and digital displays reaching thousands of passengers daily at Dallas Love Field Airport.
The Dallas Division also partnered with the City of Bedford Cultural Arts Department’s existing Traffic Signal Box Design Contest to select an effective interpretation of the theme, “Protecting Our Communities Together.” The winning design depicts the community’s hands in various recognizable poses with a comic book superhero flair and will be unveiled to the public at Generations Park in Bedford on Monday, October 2, 2023, at 11:30 a.m.
Hate crimes are the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities. The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.
The FBI is the lead investigative agency for criminal violations of federal civil rights statutes and works closely with local, state, tribal, and other federal law enforcement partners in many of these cases, even when federal charges are not pursued.
“Fear of retaliation or general unawareness of the law are factors that lead to underreporting hate crimes to federal and local law enforcement. The FBI works proactively to detect and prevent incidents through law enforcement training, but public outreach and partnerships with community groups help us spread the message to the people that need to hear it the most,” said Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough. “No one should live in fear, and we will hold people accountable for committing these serious crimes.”
Victims and witnesses of any hate-related incident are encouraged to report the information to law enforcement. After a report is made, it is assessed by the FBI, and dedicated resources with specialized expertise are engaged to determine the best course of action for investigation and adjudication.
The FBI protects all victims of crimes, regardless of their country of national origin or immigration status. If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, you are encouraged to report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting an online tip at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous and reports can be made in an individual’s preferred language.
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