Service referral for bias incidents; telephone hotline; response coordinator; rules.

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(a) "Bias crime" means the commission, attempted commission or alleged commission of an offense described in ORS 166.155 or 166.165.

(b) "Bias incident" means a person’s hostile expression of animus toward another person, relating to the other person’s perceived race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or national origin, of which criminal investigation or prosecution is impossible or inappropriate. "Bias incident" does not include any incident in which probable cause of the commission of a crime is established by the investigating law enforcement officer.

(c) "Hate crimes hotline" means the telephone hotline established by the Department of Justice under subsection (3) of this section.

(d) "Local victims’ services" means services provided to a victim of a bias crime or bias incident, including but not limited to safety planning, trauma management and data reporting, by an entity located in the same geographic area as the law enforcement agency that responds to the bias crime or bias incident.

(2)(a) A law enforcement agency that responds to a report of a bias incident shall refer the victim of the bias incident to qualifying local victims’ services.

(b) The Department of Justice shall by rule designate qualifying local victims’ services.

(c) If qualifying local victims’ services are unavailable, the law enforcement agency shall refer the victim of the bias incident to the hate crimes hotline.

(3) The Department of Justice shall establish a staffed hate crimes telephone hotline dedicated to assisting the victims of bias crimes and bias incidents.

(4) There is created in the Department of Justice the position of Hate Crimes Response Coordinator. The Hate Crimes Response Coordinator shall:

(a) Respond to all reports of bias crimes and bias incidents made to the hate crimes hotline.

(b) Provide assistance to victims of bias crimes and bias incidents that is culturally competent and designed to reduce the effects of trauma, prevent further trauma and reach a diverse community.

(c) Assist with safety planning for victims of bias crimes and bias incidents.

(d) Coordinate with local nongovernmental organizations and service providers in assisting victims of bias crimes and bias incidents.

(e) Develop training for nongovernmental organizations and service providers to standardize methods for assisting victims of bias crimes and bias incidents.

(5)(a) The Department of Justice shall:

(A) In coordination with the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, develop a standardized intake process for all reports of bias crimes and bias incidents made to the department.

(B) Collect all data possible concerning the character, location and impacted protected class of any bias crime or bias incident reported to the department.

(C) Report to the commission continually and at least quarterly all data collected pursuant to this subsection.

(b) The data reported to the commission under this subsection may not contain information that reveals the identity of any individual.

(6) Any data collected by the Department of Justice under this section that reveals the identity of any individual is exempt from public disclosure.

(7) The Department of Justice may adopt rules to carry out the provisions of this section. [2019 c.553 §8]

Note: 147.380 was enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but was not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 147 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.


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