Marinscope
Hate messages hit the doorsteps of Novato homes last week.
On Monday morning, Sept. 19, 2022, Novato police began receiving reports about the distribution of antisemitic flyers to residences within the city and in the unincorporated areas of Novato. The flyers were placed in plastic sandwich bags and found in the driveways of residences in the south end of Ignacio Boulevard. and in unincorporated areas of Bel Marin Keys Blvd.
Officers responded to investigate and found that the flyers contained antisemitic hate speech but were not determined to be a violation of the law.
This is being classified as a hate motivated incident, police told Marinscope Community Newspapers.
A hate motivated incident is an action, or a behavior motivated by hate but legally protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. This can include distribution of materials with hate messages.
The Novato Police Department issued a statement on social media saying that “we work in partnership with our community to stand up against all forms of hate expression and protect our community from hate crime. We have partnered with Not In Our Town to encourage victims of hate crime to report incidents promptly and to show that we do not tolerate these types of incidents in our community. We have added an online reporting tool to make it easier and more comfortable for victims to come forward and share information about hate activity and crime in our community. We also offer a pamphlet for community members with information and resources about hate crimes and hate motivated incidents.”
You can report a hate incident directly to an officer by contacting our dispatch center at 415-897-4361.
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