Procedures to Ensure Accuracy of Reports

(1) The Crime Reporting Unit shall solicit and receive reports of hate incidents fromreliable sources other than police departments and law enforcement agencies (i.e., advocacy organizations and civil rights agencies) on a regular basis. (2) The Crime Reporting Unit shall collect, tabulate, and report hate incident data from advocacy organizations and civil rights agencies, separately from hate crimes data from law enforcement sources. Hate incidents shall be reported through the Hate Incident Reporting Form, a copy of which isannexed to 501 CMR 4.00 as Exhibit B. Reports should include sufficient information to demonstrate that the incident is properly classifiable as a hate incident--the date and time ofthe incident, the type(s) of bias evident, all evident bias indicators, the target ofthe incident, indications as to an organized hate group or pattern of hate-motivated activity, identifying information regarding the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s), whether the incident was reported to the police, and a narrative description of the incident. The Crime Reporting Unit may revise the form at Exhibit B from time to time, consistent with M.G.L. c. 22C, § 33 and 501 CMR 4.00. (3) Any incident, to be properly classifiable as a hate incident, must reflect through the presence of one or more bias indicators a type of bias motive enumerated at 501 CMR 4.02(3). The Crime Reporting Unit shall reject Hate Incident Reports which do not reflect a bias motive as enumerated at 501 CMR 4.02(3), or which do not supply sufficient information through which a bias motive canbe ascertained. (4) The Crime Reporting Unit shall regularly share its hate crimes and hate incident data with the Uniform Crime Reports Section of the FBI, and make these data available to police and law enforcement agencies on request. (5) To be entitled to report hate incidents to the Crime Reporting Unit, advocacy organizations and civil rights agencies must have representative[s] participate in training in the proper classification of hate incidents. This training may be conducted by the Crime Reporting Unit itself, or may utilize curricula developed by the Criminal Justice Training Council with respect to classification of hate crimes.