What Are Guidelines Enforcement Agencies Can Use for Investigating Hate Crimes - Essay Example

Collecting the information is quite critical hence; the legislative bodies in several countries have implemented certain anti-hate crime acts. Additionally, in most countries, hate crimes are usually investigated by the alcohol bureau, explosives experts and the FBI’s Bias Crimes Unit. This paper will discuss the investigation of bias crimes.

As defined above, hate crimes are defined as criminal acts, which are committed because of the actual or perceived characteristics of the victim. Law enforcement agencies are supposed to respond to these crimes in a strategic procedure. In this case, the first responding officers are required to take preliminary action at the crime scene. Some of the actions include stabilizing the health of the victim and taking photographs concerning the physical evidence at the scene. The supervisor should ensure that the preliminary actions are strictly performed by the responding officers at the crime scene (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2006). In addition, the investigations should ensure that the crime scene is protected in order to get all the required evidence. Furthermore, the law enforcement agency should develop various techniques and methodologies in order to handle hate crimes. These measures among others will ensure that the bias crimes are strictly dealt with according to the law.          

In conclusion, law enforcement agencies, which have less than 100 officers, are not able to practice community policing efficiently. These agencies have unusually low arrest power. On the other hand, agencies with 100 to 500 sworn officers are able to implement some of the community policing principles.