Group Forms After Rise in Hate Crime Reports

TUJUNGA —  More than 200 people gathered Monday night for the first public meeting of the San Fernando Valley Hate Crimes Alliance, an organization formed in response to a significant rise in hate crime reports in the San Fernando Valley.

“Everyone must understand that hate crimes will not be tolerated,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti told the crowd at Verdugo Hills High School, where a race-related attack took place last year.

Garcetti announced a new hotline number--(818) 464-3339--that the public could use to report hate crimes.

“I can’t do this alone; you can’t do it alone,” Garcetti said. “It takes partnership.”

Also attending Monday’s meeting were Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks, Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

The district attorney founded the alliance two months ago in the wake of a report of a 22% increase in hate crime reports in the Valley area.

The most prominent of these crimes was the killing of Filipino American postal worker Joseph Ileto, allegedly gunned down by the same man who is charged with shooting up a Granada Hills Jewish day camp, wounding five people.

The postal worker’s brother was one of the speakers at the meeting.

“When my brother was gunned down, it was an attack on the entire nation,” Ishmael Ileto told the crowd. “We need everybody’s teamwork to help rebuild again.”

The increase in hate crime reports came as crime in general went down in the area. The rise was attributed in part to improved reporting of hate crimes by victims.

Several agencies and organizations are participating in the alliance, including the Los Angeles Police Department, the Anti-Defamation League and Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. Carla Arranaga of the district attorney’s office said Verdugo Hills High was chosen for the meeting because school officials there have worked closely with law enforcement officials to quell school incidents.

In one incident late last year, Arranaga said, two “skinhead” juveniles and an adult were arrested after slurs were made against an African American student and a Filipino student was physically attacked.

“The general climate on several campuses has shown a lack of sensitivity between different ethnic groups,” Arranaga said, referring to incidents not only at Verdugo Hills High, but at Grant High School and others.

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The purpose of the alliance is “to forge a cooperative partnership to prevent hate crimes through education and promotion of understanding and better working relationship between our community, our schools, our businesses and civic organizations and law enforcement agencies.”

Kenneth Price, head of the district attorney’s Community Outreach Unit, credited Gary Turner, principal at Verdugo Hills, for helping to organize a unified effort. Turner “has been very proactive in dealing with the community and as an advocate in stopping hate crimes,” Price said.

The program began with the staging of a fictitious scenario of a typical hate crime that begins among students on a campus and then extends into the community. The scenario included a synopsis of the various agencies handling a hate crime and the resources available to deal with the situation.

“We saw a disproportionate number of hate crimes happening in the San Fernando Valley, and we wanted folks living in that area to understand what resources are available,” Price said.

He said similar town hall meetings will be conducted in each of the LAPD’s Valley divisions. The next is scheduled to be held April 18 within the Devonshire Division, which handled the August shooting rampage at the Jewish day camp in Granada Hills.