ADL NJ regional director Etzion Neuer was among the facilitators of a daylong session for law enforcement personnel from NJ colleges on Aug. 18 at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.
Photo courtesy ADL NJ
September 18, 2008
The Anti-Defamation League launched the new school year with a hate crimes workshop for college security personnel.
Some 125 law enforcement personnel from 15 New Jersey colleges, along with representatives from another 42 state law enforcement agencies, took part in the Aug. 18 workshop at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.
The workshop presented a legal overview of hate crimes in New Jersey, hate symbols and their uses, homegrown jihad along with radicalization activity and case studies, extremist and digital media, and the rise of left-wing and such single-issue groups as radical environmentalists and animal rights groups.
“Campus law enforcement officials need the critical knowledge and tools to identify a hate crime and to respond effectively,” said ADL NJ regional director Etzion Neuer. “Because of a high number of incidents that occur at colleges, it is imperative that campus police and security officers are equipped with information on how to identify and respond to hatred and bigotry on campus.”
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office cosponsored the first-of-its-kind workshop.
“The ADL has conducted bias-crime training for law enforcement officials for many years,” Neuer told NJ Jewish News. “In the 1980s, we helped develop hate-crime legislation that has been used as a template for this type of legislation all over the country. Almost every state now has some level of hate-crime legislation on its books.”
In 2007, the ADL’s annual “Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents” revealed that the NJ region reported 21 incidents of campus-related anti-Semitism.
‘Hate-free zones’
The workshop at BCC was designed to assist statewide campus law enforcement personnel in ensuring that NJ institutions of higher learning are “hate-free zones,” said Neuer.
“Campus security team members don’t always undergo the depth of training in the area of bias crimes that sworn law enforcement officers do,” he said. “Our aim is to help law enforcement officials provide a safe learning environment and to keep our state campuses free of hate. Campus police, as first responders, are in a unique position when a student or teacher becomes the target of hate.”
Law enforcement officials throughout New Jersey now have a series of ADL resources, including the brochures “Hate on Display: Extremist Symbols, Logos, and Tattoos,” and “Hate Crimes Information for Law Enforcement,” as well as links to, and Internet addresses of, related websites. Throughout the school year, the ADL also will consult with campus police and administrators in dealing with issues of bias on campuses, Neuer said.
Although a college campus is often regarded as an oasis of civility that is immune from some of the more negative elements of daily life, the reality is less reassuring, Neuer said.
“NJ campus law enforcement personnel must know how to recognize a bias crime, and they need the right tools to respond,” said Neuer. “And they need to know that they are not alone — there are many organizations devoted to helping them.”
In addition to Brookdale, colleges that participated in the ADL training session were Burlington County College, Drew University, Essex County College, Hudson County Community College, Kean University, Monmouth University, Montclair State University, Passaic County Community College, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Rowan University, Rutgers University, St. Peters College, Salem Community College, and Sussex County Community College.
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