As the COVID-19 crisis in Pennsylvania continues to impact more and more people, the Pennsylvania State Police Heritage Affairs Section, in coordination with the rest of the Tension Response Team--made up of the FBI, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, the Human Relations Commission, Anti-Defamation League and other community organizations--is watching national trends of hate crime increases against the Asian-American community.
While the team has not responded to a complaint from the Asian-American community in regards to COVID-19, state officials are confident that it is occurring.
"There's a strong possibility that hate crimes againts Asian-Americans in Pennsylvania could be occurring, just not being reported," Lieutenant William Slaton said.
Lt. Slaton serves as Commander of the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Section, part of the Equality and Inclusion Office of the Pennsylvania State Police.
"They may not want to report for fear of embarrassment, that they won't have community support or they don't think law enforcement will take it seriously," Lt. Slaton said.
In a letter sent out to community organizations all across the commonwealth, PSP and the Tension Response Team say that they are available to assist any and all complaints at this time. They have interpreters with knowledge of more than a dozen languages to combat any language barrier.
But perhaps an even larger barrier surrounds misinformation, hate speech and the online social media community. Even government officials have been recorded speaking to COVID-19 in racial terms, rather than it's specific name. This is something that should not be occurring, and is inaccurate, according to Lt. Slaton.
Furthermore, it makes the threat of violence higher.
"I do not recommend calling it other than the scientific name it's given, which is COVID-19. Any other name has a high potential of increasing the number of hate crimes against a demographic," Lt. Slaton said.
Lt. Slaton mentioned that if you report an instance of a hate crime to your local police, it will not necessarily get back to his section if the municipal police does not report it to them, or unless it gains the attention of local media, online entities or in some other way directly comes to his attention. However, you should still report it either to your local organizations or PSP directly.
"If you see or hear anything concerning, or you perceive you are a victim of anything concerning, report it to us right away," Lt. Slaton said.
And regardless of community, race, religion, sexual orientation and more, Lt. Slaton wants you to know that the Pennsylvania State Police and the entirety of the Tension Response Team has your best interest at heart.
"We're not going to tolerate any type of hate or bias against anyone in Pennsylvania," Lt. Slaton said.
If you would like to report a hate crime anonymously, you can do so in one of two ways: Call 1-800-4PA-TIPS (1-800-472-8477) or email tips@pa.gov
For more information, you can visit the Pennsylvania State Police Heritage Affairs Section website.