Thank you so much for your question, and thank you to the interpreter for facilitating that.
Trust needs to stem from a place of non-heightened emotion. Oftentimes, engagement with law enforcement comes at a time of heightened emotions. My approach to this is to recommend that there should be community advisory boards with law enforcement at all times—when emotions are heightened and when they are not—to guide them and facilitate their conversation with communities. That is the first thing to do.
The second thing is reconciling and apologizing for mistakes that have been made. We have to understand that communities are constituted of human beings with human emotions. If people are hurt, progress cannot be made. Mistakes that have been made need to be recognized, and apologies should be issued for that.
The third thing is education. It's very easy to say, “This is what you need to do in order to report a hate crime,” but in terms of the actual process, people need to be guided through that. Training sessions for community members and community leaders on how to report hate crimes should be there.
The fourth thing is the soft bedside manner that is needed. Oftentimes, people who have gone through a traumatic experience are unable to articulate what they have gone through, or they may forget what actually happened. Police officers need to remember that. You're dealing with someone who's just been through a traumatic experience, or they may not remember all the details right away. Try your utmost not to treat them like the perpetrator. Treat them, rather, like the victim. Oftentimes, because people feel as if they are the perpetrator when they are the victim, they shy away from reporting. The way they're treated goes a very long way.
Those are some of the recommendations I would make regarding the law enforcement question. Thank you so much.