Hate crimes: law enforcement policies.

Existing law defines a "hate crime" as a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including, among other things, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to develop guidelines for instruction and training of law enforcement officers addressing hate crimes. Existing law requires state law enforcement agencies to adopt a framework or other formal policy on hate crimes created by POST. This bill would clarify that a disability is protected under the law regardless of whether it is temporary, permanent, congenital, or acquired by heredity, accident, injury, advanced age, or illness. The bill would also require any local law enforcement agency that updates an existing hate crime policy or adopts a new hate crime policy to include, among other things, the model policy framework developed by POST and information regarding bias motivation. The bill would allow a local law enforcement agency that updates an existing hate crime policy or adopts a new hate crime policy to include any of the provisions of a model hate crime policy and other relevant documents developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.