A tool for all Westchester Police Departments to stay on the same page about incidents
White Plains
A new centralized online hub is helping authorities monitor and prosecute hate crimes in Westchester County.
The new portal took a year to develop and comes at a time when the number of reported hate crimes is on the rise.
The new portal is not public, but it is a tool that is putting all Westchester police departments in sync with hate incidents and crimes occurring throughout the county.
The Westchester District Attorney’s Office helped spearhead the portal, which will also help identify where public outreach and hate prevention education is needed.
So far, 80% of state and local law enforcement agencies are registered on the portal, including the Village of Ossining Police Department.
Ossining Police Department Chief Kevin Sylvester says the portal will help departments share information about hate crimes, which could be useful in cases like the one involving Robert McCallion. In 2021, he was convicted of a violent racist attack in Ossining against a 17-year-old girl, who was attacked for being black.
“You know, we don’t know if those things are happening in other places or what contacts that person had, so this is an opportunity for us to share that information,” he says.
The overall goal is to create more comprehensive and proactive investigations, with the hope of speedy justice when hate crimes occur.
If the portal proves successful and useful, it could be expanded to monitor other types of crime.
Posted on February 02, 2023
