by Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article was originally published by PubliCola and has been reprinted with permission.)
Hand-sized stickers bearing a rainbow-colored police badge are ubiquitous in storefront windows around Seattle. They are the calling card of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) “Safe Place” program, a 6-year-old project that theoretically recruits business owners to provide shelter to victims of hate crimes and to report hate crimes to the department. The project doesn’t cost the department much — stickers, printed materials, and a single staff member are the only expenses. But whether it has made a difference for victims of hate crimes is still hard to discern.
Continue reading SPD Touts ‘Safe Place’ Hate-Crimes Program, but Advocates Skeptical