Tag Archive | "Al Lamberti"

Broward County Sheriff on Hate Crimes: “We Don’t Want To Be Number One.”

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By Cliff Dunn

Photo: Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti is shown here with Captain Rick Wierzbicki who leads BSO’s Hate Crimes Task Force.

Sheriff Al Lamberti says that the communities he polices are diverse, vibrant, and thriving, but he remains deeply concerned and troubled that Broward County ranks first among Florida counties for reported hate crimes.

“Simply put: we don’t want to be number one in terms of these stats,” Lamberti emphasized. The sheriff, entering his fourth year in office, says that the numbers tell several stories.

The county’s number one ranking, Lamberti offers, is in some ways the result of hate crimes victims coming forward to report their attacks for the first time, inundating law enforcement’s reporting apparatus and giving a top-heavy statistic for crimes that went unreported or underreported all along.

“By establishing a Hate Crimes/Anti-Bias Task Force, we’re actively encouraging citizens who have been victims to report on these crimes,” Lamberti notes.

“That puts the focus on the numbers for BSO [Broward Sheriff’s Office]. The crimes themselves are deplorable,” the sheriff cautions, “but we want potential victims to report their attacks, or harassment.”

“At the same time,” he adds, “we want the state’s other police agencies to follow our lead and establish their own hate crimes task forces. When that happens, you will see a spike in their numbers, too. But it’s important to make victims know they have official assistance available to them, no matter whether they’re gay, or homeless, or had a ethnically-motivated hate crime perpetrated upon them.”

The state of Florida defines a hate crime as an act committed or attempted by one person or group against another –or that person’s property –that in any way constitutes an expression of hatred toward the victim based on his or her personal characteristics.

A report issued last month by Florida’s attorney general records 149 hate crimes being committed statewide for the year 2010, the last complete year for which statistics are available. Those numbers are slightly higher than the ones from 2009, but a vast improvement over 1992’s record of 395 hate crimes. The attorney general’s report details the number as well as the types of hate crimes committed throughout the Sunshine State.

Of hate crimes committed, nearly half were racially motivated–over 46 percent–while more than one-in-five, or 21.5 percent, resulted from the victim’s sexual orientation. Religious beliefs account for 19.5 percent of hate crimes statewide, followed by ethnically-motivated crimes at 12.7 percent.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the hate crimes stats were reported by law enforcement agencies across Florida. This data was then provided to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Both Broward and Miami-Dade counties saw the number of hate crimes reported drop in 2010. Miami-Dade experienced a drop in its 2009 numbers, from 17 to 11. Broward County again led the state in overall reported hate crimes with 19 cases, three less than in 2009. Of the 32 reported hate crimes in Florida that were motivated by sexual orientation, eight of them–25 percent–occurred in Broward.

Said Lamberti: “Broward is the most diverse county in Florida. Clearly, though, that statistic of number one is proof that we’re not all getting along with each other.”

Lamberti says he is encouraged by the response to his department’s efforts of law enforcement agencies and lawmakers outside of Florida, including members of Congress.

“When Maryland was looking to increase the classes protected under that state’s hate crimes laws, they looked closely at our efforts and internal practices in investigating hate crimes against the homeless and others, and used these as a model for retooling their laws,” he recalls. “It was gratifying, but at the same time, you say to yourself, ‘they are using our case to improve their own legal protections for victims, why isn’t the same being done here in our own state?’”

Lamberti and his office’s efforts paid off when Florida lawmakers got the message. “There was a sense,” Lamberti remembers, “that there had already been efforts to tackle this before. I said to the people who were helping us, ‘I haven’t tried before,’ and we used the clout of this office and the support of law enforcement to spearhead what was a legislative effort. It was gratifying.”

The sheriff acknowledges the work ahead. He admits that many crimes go unreported. But he believes that he has put a system in place that can adapt to the needs of victims and challenging conditions. One reason for his optimism is his choice of officers to command the Hate Crimes and Anti-Bias Task Force. BSO Capt. Rick Wierzbicki was a 24-year veteran of the Wilton Manors Police Department, retiring as Chief of Police in August 2005. It proved to be a short retirement.

“Capt. Wierzbicki’s experience leading a department in a city that has a diverse population comingling with one another makes him a natural candidate to bring disparate individuals and ideas together,” notes lamberti. “It requires him to be a leader, and also a diplomat and a consensus-builder when it comes to the numerous stakeholders who have a voice in combating these crimes,” he adds.

For Wierzbicki, the proof is in the pudding. “The reality is that hate crimes are being reported and investigated,” he said. “This entire agency wants to know if hate crimes are being committed.”

Broward’s standing as highest-ranked county for hate crimes is also drawing attention to the stats and reporting of Florida’s other 66 counties and their jurisdictions. Although Miami-Dade County reported 11 hate crimes for 2010, its largest municipality, Miami–the state’s second largest city–reported no hate crimes for the third consecutive year.

Broward Sheriff Lamberti refuses to throw any other police agency under the bus, but he is realistic about his and other departments’ reporting. “I want the rest of the state–and the nation, for that matter–to follow Broward’s lead and set up a system and the manpower for honest reporting and investigating,” said Lamberti.

“We look at a crime, or a possible crime, and don’t in any way mitigate or downplay the facts. If a crime looks like a hate crime, then that’s how it is investigated.

We don’t investigate an attack against two gay men, for example, as a robbery. We investigate it with the presumption that it is a crime of the most serious magnitude. The facts of the case may bear out that it is, in fact, a robbery, but we will investigate all elements of the case to ascertain both what it is, and what it isn’t.”

“As far as some places reporting ‘zero’ hate crimes, I find that a little hard to believe. I can’t comment on what transpires anyplace else but this office, but we don’t sweep stats under the rug,” Lamberti insisted.

 

 

BSO Screens Bullied as Part of Their Anti-Bullying Initiative

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Fort Lauderdale, FL – Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti will discuss the office’s Anti-Bullying Initiative in conjunction with screening Bullied, a film chronicling the powerful story of Jamie Nabozny from Ashland, Wisconsin. He  stood up to his anti-gay tormentors with a federal law suit. The suit led to a landmark decision that held school officials accountable for not stopping anit-gay bullying.

Captain Rick Wierzbicki, of the Sheriff’s Office Hate Crimes and Anti-Bias Task Force; and Andrew L.

Rosenkranz, Florida Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, will also be in attendance.

Monday, September 26, 6:30 p.m. at Cinema Paradiso, 503 SE 6th Street Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a catered cocktail reception (free food/cash bar) prior to the film at the Courtyard of Cinema Paradiso 5:30 p.m.

Anti-Bullying Initiative

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FORT LAUDERDALE – Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti will discuss the office’s Anti-Bullying initiative. Commander Richard Wierzbicki, of the Sheriff ’s Hate Crimes and Anti-Bias Task Force, and Paul Hyman, Executive Director of the Pride Center at Equality Park, will also be in attendance.

Narrated by Jane Lynch, the perfectly timed documentary Bullied will premiere at Cinema Paradiso, and will be made available for free to schools. It tells the story of Wisconsin’s Jamie Nabozny, whose middle and high school years were spent getting peed on, kicked, and verbally abused by classmates because he’s gay. Multiple suicide attempts and running away from home preceded a 1990s lawsuit that resulted in the first court ruling holding a school accountable for not preventing a student’s victimization. (Represented by Lambda Legal, Nabozny eventually settled for around $1 million.)

Sponsored by Sheriff Al Lamberti
and the Broward County Sheriffs
Office, The Pride Center at Equality
Park, Vision 2015 and the Southern
Poverty Law Center.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 7:00 p.m.

Cinema Paradiso
503 SE 6th Street,
Ft.

Lauderdale, Florida

Broward County leads state in reported hate crimes

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Record low incidents for state as a whole

Photo: Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti says BSO planning town halls meeting to educate public on hate crimes. Courtesy, allamberti.com

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

For the fourth year in a row, Broward County leads the state of Florida in the number of reported hate crimes, but officials say the numbers aren’t as dire as they seem for the second largest county in South Florida.

Attorney General Bill McCollum released the 2009 Florida Hate Crimes Report, which indicates that reported hate crimes in Florida are at their lowest level since 1990. During the 2009 calendar year, 148 hate crimes were reported by law enforcement agencies, well below the annual average of 262 reported hate crime incidents since reporting began in 1990.

“Floridians must continue working to ensure that everyone is free of intolerance and hate,” said McCollum. “Even one hate crime is one too many.”

Broward County had 22 reported hate crimes, while Miami-Dade County reported 17 hate crimes, Palm Beach County reported nine hate crimes, Orange County also had nine hate crimes, Pinellas County had three hate crimes and Osceola County had one reported hate crime.

The Broward County Sheriff ’s Office believes the numbers continue to be the highest in Broward County because the agency has made a concentrated effort to educate constituents on what a hate crime is and encouraged them to report it.

“Sheriff Al Lamberti and I are glad to see the numbers are down statewide, but at the same time we here in Broward County investigate any reports of hate crimes very seriously until the evidence shows otherwise,” said BSO Commander Richard Wierzbicki of the Hate Crimes/Anti-Bias Task Force. “We have done a successful job of not only spreading the word, but also going into schools and educating kids at a young age to respect all people no matter their race, ethnicity or disability.”

Of the 262 reported hate crimes, 33 were based on sexual orientation, about 13 percent, with Broward and Miami-Dade counties leading the way in that category – each with eight hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Those two counties account for nearly 50 percent of the sexual orientation hate crimes reported in the state.

Wierzbicki said that, although many LGBT community members live in Broward and Miami-Dade, no minority group should have a false sense of security just because they think they are in a safe neighborhood.

“Always be aware of your surroundings, walk in groups and in well-lit areas,” Wierzbicki said.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the LGBT community is still the most targeted group among minorities.

The SPLC has a list of 18 anti-gay hate groups all across the United States including three in Florida: Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville and Liberty Counsel in Orlando.

“There is a tremendous amount of hate out there,” Wierzbicki said.

The Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights, which compiles the report, also conducts hate crimes training for law enforcement throughout Florida and has developed programs for elementary, middle and high school students to teach them how to recognize hate crimes, how the law protects victims of hate crimes, and how such crimes affect Florida communities.

McCollum continues to support better protection for victims of hate crimes and was recently involved in obtaining the support of State Attorneys General for federal hate crimes legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The Anti- Defamation League commended the attorney general for his leadership as a principal signature on a letter in support of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act (HCPA), which became law last year.

In May, Wierzbicki and Lamberti helped make Florida the second state in the nation to add the homeless as a protected group in the state’s hate crimes law.

Wierzbicki also spoke in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in September about the need to add homeless to nationwide hate crimes reports.

BSO plans on holding town halls all around the county beginning in the spring to continue to educate people on what a hate crime is and making sure they know its ok to report it. “It’s a double-edge sword for us,” Wierzbicki said.

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