San Francisco's DA Is Urging Residents to Report Hate Acts

San Francisco's top law enforcement official is encouraging residents to report any and all hate acts they witness in the city.

District Attorney George Gascón said people who call (415) 551-9595 during business hours will be connected with an investigator or an assistant district attorney specializing in hate crimes.

"We as a community stand united," Gascón said at a news conference on Friday. "This will not be a place where hate will be tolerated without consequences."

Gascón said the number has been in use since he became district attorney in 2011 and has been used for a variety of things, including consumer fraud reporting. He said the last time it was used for hate crimes was early in his tenure, when there were attacks by white supremacists in the Tenderloin.

Earlier this week, a Latina nanny was accosted in Great Meadow Park at Fort Mason because of her race, and a suspect is in custody for allegedly putting up racist graffiti in the Bayview last night. More than 400 acts of hate -- specifically against people of color, Muslims, immigrants and members of the LGBT community -- have been reported around the country since Donald Trump was elected president, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has confirmed three incidents of hate against Muslims or people perceived to be Muslim in the Bay Area since the election. The executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of CAIR, Zahra Billoo, said she can't remember another time when there were three such incidents in such a short period of time, even after terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, which precipitated increased anti-Muslim attacks.

Federal hate crime statistics released this week showed a slight increase in the total number of hate crimes reported in 2015, with a 67 percent jump in hate crimes against Muslims. There have been 111 acts of anti-Muslim bias reported across the country since the election, according to CAIR. That includes more than 30 in California.

Gascón said Trump's election has given people license to act on their hate.

"I don't even wear hijab," said Hala Hijazi, a San Francisco human rights commissioner who teared up as she spoke at the news conference. "But I worry about my sisters who do and my nieces and nephews in school."

Gascón said it is everyone's responsibility to combat hateful incidents.

"If we don't stand up today because we are not Muslims, because we are not Latinos, because we are not gay or lesbian, there will be a day when they will be coming after you and there will not be anyone there to stand up with you," he said.

The San Francisco Police Department and the Human Rights Commission are also asking people to report any hate incidents to their hotlines:

• SFPD 24-hour hotline: (415) 575-4444
• SFPD text line: TIP-411 (847-411), start message with "SFPD"
• Human Rights Commission: (415) 252-2500