CHAPTER 42-28

State Affairs and Government

42-28-46. Development of system monitoring crimes motivated by bigotry and bias.

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:

(1) "Police department" – means all state, municipal and campus police departments within the state of Rhode Island;

(2) "Hate crime" – means any crime motivated by bigotry and bias, including, but not limited to threatened, attempted, or completed acts that appear after investigation to have been motivated by racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression or disability prejudice or motivated by prejudice against a person who is homeless or is perceived to be homeless. For the purposes of this chapter, the definitions of disability, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression shall be defined as set forth in Rhode Island general laws § 11-24-2.1;

(3) "Hate crime data" – means information, incident reports, records and statistics relating to hate crimes, collected by the state police unit pursuant to this section;

(4) "Incident report" – means account of any individual occurrence of hate crime received or collected by the crime reporting unit pursuant to this section.

(b) The state police shall, by January 1, 1994, develop a system monitoring the occurrence of crimes committed in the state which the evidence of the offense demonstrates was motivated by racial, religious, ethnic bigotry, or bias on any other matter defined as a "hate crime" herein. All police departments within the state shall report monthly the occurrence of such crimes to the state police. The state police shall maintain a permanent record of these offenses categorized by community of occurrence, type of offense, target of offense, and such other information as the department deems relevant. The department shall develop a plan for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of the data regarding such crimes and shall promulgate regulations relating to the collection of hate crime data, as defined in this section, which are submitted by law enforcement agencies, individuals, state and local human rights commissions, and anti-discrimination advocacy organizations.

(c) The state police shall compile and distribute to each police department a listing of all criminal offenses and penalties for those actions defined as "hate crimes" herein. Notice of the provision of these sections shall be primarily posted at each police station.

(d) This section shall not be construed to increase or enhance the penalties against the perpetrators of hate crimes as defined in this section, unless provided for by any other section of law.

CHAPTER 12-24
Uniform Crime Reporting System

12-24-1. Reporting System. – A uniform crime reporting system shall be established under the direction, control, and supervision of the superintendent of state police. The superintendent of state police shall have the power and duty, by any rules and regulations that he or she may deem necessary to collect and gather any information from local police departments and the enforcement division of the department of environmental management that may be and is prescribed in this chapter.

12-24-2. Reports. – The police department of each city and town and the enforcement division of the department of environmental management, once each quarter, upon a date and form prescribed and furnished by the superintendent of state police, shall forward to the division of state police a crime report. Each reporting department shall report only on cases within its jurisdiction and upon which it is making, or has made, the primary police investigation. The report shall be called the uniform crime report and shall cover crimes reported and otherwise processed during the reporting period. It shall contain the number and nature of offenses committed, the disposition of those offenses, and any other information that the superintendent of state police shall specify relating to the method, frequency, cause, and prevention of crime. Under no circumstances shall the name of any person be reported.

12-24-3. Compilation of Reports. – Upon receipt of the quarterly uniform crime reports from the reporting agencies, the division of state police shall prepare a statewide compilation of the statistics contained in the reports, and the resulting statistical compilation shall be available to any governmental law enforcement agency in the state, the judiciary committees of the senate and the house of representatives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, upon request. The statistics made available through the uniform crime report shall be used for the purpose of studying the causes, trends, and effects of crime in this state and for intelligence upon which to base a sounder program of crime detection and prevention and the apprehension of criminals.

12-24-4. Other Agencies. – Any governmental agency, not falling within the description of those required to submit the quarterly uniform crime report set forth in § 12-24-2, which desires to submit a report, shall be furnished with the proper forms by the division of state police. When a report is received by the division of state police from a governmental police agency not required to make a report, the information contained in the report shall be included within the monthly compilation provided for in § 12-24-3.