Policy Text
Policy
319Garden Grove Police Department
Policy Manual
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2025/05/21, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentHate Crimes - 1Hate Crimes
319.1 POLICY
It is the policy of this department to safeguard the rights of all individuals irrespective of their
disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and/or association with
a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. Any acts or threats
of violence, property damage, harassment, intimidation, or other crimes motivated by hate or bias
should be viewed very seriously and given high priority.
The Garden Grove Police Department will employ reasonably available resources and vigorous
law enforcement action to identify and arrest hate crime perpetrators. Also, recognizing the
particular fears and distress typically suffered by victims, the potential for reprisal and escalation
of violence, and the far-reaching negative consequences of these crimes on the community, this
department should take all reasonable steps to attend to the security and related concerns of the
immediate victims and their families as feasible.
All officers are required to be familiar with the policy and use reasonable diligence to carry out the
policy unless directed by the Chief of Police or other command-level officer to whom the Chief of
Police formally delegates this responsibility.
319.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
This policy is designed to assist in identifying and handling crimes motivated by hate or other bias
toward individuals and groups with legally defined protected characteristics, to define appropriate
steps for assisting victims, and to provide a guide to conducting related investigations. It outlines
the general policy framework for prevention, response, accessing assistance, victim assistance
and follow-up, and reporting as related to law enforcement's role in handling hate crimes. It also
serves as a declaration that hate crimes are taken seriously and demonstrates how the Garden
Grove Police Department may best use its resources to investigate and solve an offense, in
addition to building community trust and increasing police legitimacy (Penal Code § 13519.6;
Penal Code § 422.87).
319.1.1 DEFINITION AND LAWS
In accordance with Penal Code § 422.55; Penal Code § 422.56; Penal Code § 422.6; and Penal
Code § 422.87, for purposes of all other state law, unless an explicit provision of law or the context
clearly requires a different meaning, the following shall apply:
Bias motivation - Bias motivation is a pre-existing negative attitude toward actual or perceived
characteristics referenced in Penal Code § 422.55. Depending on the circumstances of each case,
bias motivation may include but is not limited to hatred, animosity, discriminatory selection of
victims, resentment, revulsion, contempt, unreasonable fear, paranoia, callousness, thrill-seeking,
desire for social dominance, desire for social bonding with those of one's "own kind," or a
perception of the vulnerability of the victim due to the victim being perceived as being weak,
Garden Grove Police Department
Policy Manual
Hate Crimes
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2025/05/21, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentHate Crimes - 2worthless, or fair game because of a protected characteristic, including but not limited to disability
or gender.
Disability - Disability includes mental disability and physical disability as defined in Government
Code § 12926, regardless of whether those disabilities are temporary, permanent, congenital, or
acquired by heredity, accident, injury, advanced age, or illness.
Disability bias - In recognizing suspected disability-bias hate crimes, officers should consider
whether there is any indication that the perpetrator was motivated by hostility or other bias,
occasioned by factors such as but not limited to dislike of persons who arouse fear or guilt, a
perception that persons with disabilities are inferior and therefore "deserving victims," a fear of
persons whose visible traits are perceived as being disturbing to others, or resentment of those
who need, demand, or receive alternative educational, physical, or social accommodations.
In recognizing suspected disability-bias hate crimes, officers should consider whether there is any
indication that the perpetrator perceived the victim to be vulnerable and, if so, if this perception is
grounded, in whole or in part, in anti-disability bias. This includes but is not limited to situations
where a perpetrator targets a person with a particular perceived disability while avoiding other
vulnerable-appearing persons, such as inebriated persons or persons with perceived disabilities
different from those of the victim. Such circumstances could be evidence that the perpetrator's
motivations included bias against persons with the perceived disability of the victim and that the
crime must be reported as a suspected hate crime and not a mere crime of opportunity.
Gender - Gender means sex and includes a person's gender identity and gender expression.
Gender expression - Gender expression means a person's gender-related appearance and
behavior, regardless of whether it is stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at
birth.
Gender identity - Gender identity means each person's internal understanding of their gender,
or the perception of a person's gender identity, which may include male, female, a combination
of male and female, neither male nor female, a gender different from the person's sex assigned
at birth, or transgender (2 CCR § 11030).
Hate crime - "Hate crime" includes but is not limited to a violation of Penal Code § 422.6, and
means a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual
or perceived characteristics of the victim:
(a)Disability