Arlington Police and Human Rights Commission Working To End Hate Incidents

ARLINGTON -- With 16 documented incidents of "hate incidents'' in Arlington last year, the Arlington Police Department and Arlington Human Rights Commission released a joint statement announcing an informational hearing about the Trust Act warrant article to be presented at Town Meeting.

The 16 incidents in 2016 included included: a resident falling victim to a nationwide hack that resulted in the resident’s printer producing white supremacist propaganda; a threatening leaflet in a Jewish family’s mailbox, a swastika spray-painted on a family’s garage; a Confederate battle flag displayed outside a resident’s home, racial epithets yelled out on a school bus at the Ottoson Middle School, racist and anti-Semitic graffiti found in the schools, and repeated vandalism of Black Lives Matter signs at local churches.

“It is with increasing concern that we report that in less than two months, five hate incidents affecting members of our community have been reported in 2017,'' according to the joint statement.

These include: anti-gay graffiti on a local Dunkin’ Donuts; swastikas spray-painted on buildings along the Minuteman Bikeway: racist and anti-Semitic graffiti at Arlington High School; a swastika painted on a private home; and a swastika mailed directly to a resident’s home.

The AHRC will host a Trust Act information session at Town Hall at 2 p.m. on Feb. 26 Town officials, including a police representative, will provide legal, financial, and law enforcement information regarding the Trust Act warrant article that has been submitted for this year's Town Meeting.

Arlington Police and the AHRC work closely with each other to investigate and resolve hate incidents, but they are asking for the public's help to ensure that all individuals who live, attend school, work, visit, shop, or receive services in Arlington feel welcome and protected here.

The AHRC will host a Trust Act information session at Town Hall on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. Town officials, including a representative from APD, will provide legal, financial, and law enforcement information regarding the Trust Act warrant article that has been submitted for this year's Town Meeting.

If you know of an act of discrimination, intimidation, or other hate crime, please report it to APD (781-643-1212) and/or AHRC (781-316-3250, ahrc@town.arlington.ma.us). The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has also set up a hotline for reporting bias-motivated harassment or threats (1-800-994-3228)."