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Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2025/06/17, All Rights Reserved. Published with permission by Santa Monica Police Department Hate Crimes - 1 Santa Monica Police Department Santa Monica Police Department Policy Manual Hate Crimes 320.1 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, access ing 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 Santa Monica Police Department may be st 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). 320.1.1 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 nega tive 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 per ceived as being weak, worthless, 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, regard less 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 vi ctims," 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 crime s, 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 Policy 320 Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2025/06/17, All Rights Reserved. Published with permission by Santa Monica Police Department Hate Crimes - 2 Santa Monica Police Department Santa Monica Police Department Policy Manual Hate Crimes 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 under standing 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 (b) Gender (c) Nationality (d) Race or ethnicity (e) Religion (f) Sexual orientation (g) Association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics: 1. "Association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics" includes advocacy for, identification with, or being on the premises owned or rented by, or adjacent to, any of the following: a community center, educational facility, family, individual, office, meeting hall, place of worship, private institution, public agency, library, or other entity,