Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer and Seattle Times

During a press conference at Gay City offices, King County Prosecutor displays the new hate crimes awareness poster being put up around Capitol Hill. photo: Ken Lambert, Seattle Times

"We're going to make the bad people go away," he said.

Hogan and other volunteers began putting up the posters, which were unveiled at a Friday news conference, in the neighborhood in response to a spate of anti-gay episodes last year

"Hate Crimes Alert," the signs say in big letters. They advise gays and lesbians to not walk alone. "Avoid Being a Victim," they say. "Stay together -- leave clubs with friends."

A little earlier, at the news conference, Hogan said he prosecuted 14 bias crimes in 2007, about half aimed at gays. The number of incidents, which occurred mainly last summer in the traditionally gay neighborhood, was the most he'd seen in a short period of time during his 20 years in the Prosecutor's Office.

"It's a lot to ask people not to engage," said Hogan, a senior deputy prosecutor who handles the department's malicious-harassment cases, which are this state's versions of hate crimes. "But we're doing it so victims don't end up going to Harborview" Medical Center.

Hogan said all of the malicious-harassment cases in the past year involved intoxicated individuals. In the most recent case, he said, a man who had harassed a gay person in Pioneer Square was sentenced last week to 14 months in prison.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who also attended the meeting, said it's difficult to know if the incidents constitute a trend, but said the posters were aimed at answering the "perceived increase in hate crimes."

"What I'm hearing is guys feeling real fear walking around at night," Fred Swanson, executive director of the Gay City Health Project, said at the news conference.

The warnings harked back to a time when gay people could not walk the streets openly. "It's horrible. But it's the reality, and there are basic ways to keep yourself safe," Swanson said.

Satterberg said his office is also working with Seattle police to produce a training video that will help officers determine the elements of a hate crime and recognize the importance of recording verbatim the words used in a verbal assault.

Satterberg said police will respond promptly to reports of harassment, and the initiative should be seen as a message that his office takes these crimes seriously.

By making the cases "high profile and showing a willingness to make examples of individuals," Satterberg said he hopes to give would-be offenders reason to pause before acting.

Full article: Local News | New effort targets hate crimes | Seattle Times Newspaper
Posters warn of hate crimes | Seattle PI