R.B. police joins county program to help track, report hate crimes

A new portal for law enforcement officials is geared toward helping Westchester County investigate hate crimes, and most communities across the region have gotten on board with the efforts.

Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced earlier this month, on Feb. 1, the launch of a Hate Crime Portal—a service participating police departments are encouraged to use to report bias incidents in their jurisdictions.

“Law enforcement cannot tackle hate, bias and extremism if we don’t know about it,” Rocah stated in a press release. “Utilizing technology, we can now access data for hate crimes and bias incidents across Westchester, conveniently consolidated in one place. Not only can this assist in our prosecutions, it will enhance our collaboration with police.”

According to the District Attorney’s office, nearly 80 percent of law enforcement agencies with county jurisdictions have registered for the portal—one of them being the Rye Brook police.

“It’s rare for us to see a hate crime. I can’t remember the last time,” said Rye Brook Police Lieutenant J. Arnold. Still, however, he described the department’s decision to participate in the county’s new program as an easy commitment.

There’s no downfall, he said, and it could be useful.

“The way I understand it, it’s a clearinghouse for reporting hate and bias crimes. Each agency participating, if they have a crime of that nature, while in the process of investigating it they’ll report it through the portal,” Arnold said. “Then, county investigators will be able to determine if there are common similarities, which helps identify suspects or trends, potentially.”

“It’s not really any extra work for us,” he added. Just a few extra minutes added to any case of interest—which in Rye Brook, is rare.

Of the participating law enforcement departments listed on the District Attorney’s press release as of Feb. 1, the Port Chester police were seemingly not included.

This newspaper could not obtain comment from Port Chester Police Chief Christopher Rosabella after several requests through Village Manager Stuart Rabin, who mandates all communications to Port Chester personnel go through him.