The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program supports state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecution agencies in their outreach to and education for the public about hate crimes. The program also supports victims, agency staff, and partners who have been impacted by these crimes. Further, the program provides support to reimburse extraordinary expenses associated with investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.

The Aubrey Group, on behalf of the Township, applied for funding through this program to accomplish a number of goals related to elevated rates of bias incidents in Montclair. The Aubrey Group met with various members of the Police Department, Township Council, and Township staff to facilitate project development. The Aubrey Group assessed the Police Department’s needs and program capacity and prepared an application.

The project is two-pronged: The first prong of the program is establishing a community Anti-Hate Crimes Taskforce with representatives from the Police Department, community organizations, the Montclair school system, and higher education. Through this program, community organizations will partner with the Police Department to host community-based events to raise awareness about bias crimes and how to report them. These organizations will also recruit individuals from their constituencies to be trained as advocates. The advocates will be liaisons for individuals who are victims of hate Crimes and assist them in reporting the crimes they experienced.

The second prong of this program is the formation of a Bias Crimes Unit in the Police Department, which expands the existing role of the Bias Crime Officer as well as supports department-wide training on hate crimes reporting and investigation, community trust building, and cultural competency.

The Police Department will collaborate with its community partners to develop and implement this culturally-informed training for all involved in the program.

The goal is for these community events to be “talk back” events, with officers responding to community feedback. The program was modified to include a procured partner to provide Anti-Hate Crime training and consultations for our Police Department and the Community taskforce. Modifications also included the expansion of the Bias Crime Unit and ensuring the Police Department has the technology needed to host virtual meetings with the community and Peace and Action.

Additionally, the project includes the budgetary needs of police overtime and the “See Something, Say Something” campaign materials for the public.

The Township of Montclair was awarded $300,000.00 for the development and implementation of this impactful project.

About the Client: The Township of Montclair (pop. 40,000) is located in Essex County, NJ, about 12 miles from Manhattan. Montclair has a strong and unique identity as an excellent place to live and to raise a family., It is as a center for the arts and culture, and as a great place to build a thriving business. When other municipalities across New Jersey and New York look seek to revitalize their downtowns, they often point to Montclair as an example of what they aspire to become.

Photo Credit: Township of Montclair Police Department Facebook Page