ADL in Austin

For more details about any of the information listed below,
please contact the Austin ADL office (512-735-8012) 
 

Austin ADL in Action: Education

In October Austin hosted both a Parent Session and an Educators’ Breakfast on the issue of Religion in Public Schools with guest speakers Mel Waxler, Austin ISD General Counsel, and State Rep. Scott Hochberg, who serves on the House Committee on Public Education. For more information on this subject check out the December Dilemma page of our Religious Freedom section on our national website.

ADL Second Annual Interfaith Security Conference

For the second year in a row our Austin ADL office is coordinating a security training for representatives of all houses of worship throughout our community. The Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, Austin Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and Travis County Sheriff's Office all are supporting organizations for this important training. This year's conference will be held on August 18th

This high-level security awareness conference has been developed to meet the immediate security needs of religious institutions. Security is a long-term process that typically cannot be efficiently or effectively deployed only when there is an emergency. This conference will assist clergy, other professionals and lay leaders directly responsible for assessing, developing, implementing and evaluating security policies and procedures.

The Impact of Hatred in Our Lives (and in Austin)

Once again our office has presented "The Impact of Hatred in Our Lives (and in Austin)." This time, it was for the Downtowners' Sunday School class at First United Methodist Church; this group is mostly retired folks who get together once a month.

Law Enforcement Efforts

Williamson County Sheriff's Office
Through a request by the Department of Justice, our office was asked to meet with Sheriff James R. Wilson as a follow up to a hate crime committed in the Anderson Mill Community in January (See News8 Story.) Sheriff Wilson was pleased to report that the perpetrators of the vandalism had been caught.

Coincidently, another incident with a swastika occurred in Williamson County more recently; the victims reached out to  Austin ADL for guidance and our office was able to offer assistance to them. The Williamson County Sheriff's office took the incident seriously, responded appropriately and was able to apprehend the perpetrators of the crime within a few days.

In addition to reviewing these two cases with Sheriff Wilson and two members of his command staff, we were able to review ADL law enforcement resources and programs as well as ways ADL can work with and for law enforcement on cases of hate crimes, hate groups, extremism and terrorism.

Law Enforcement Training
The Austin ADL office provided a special training for law enforcement focusing on hate crimes – Hate Crimes: Elements, Impact & Offenders, which was held a the Travis County Sheriff's Office on June 20th. ADL Southern Area Council David Barkey presented this important two-hour training to law enforcement professionals from the following agencies: Austin Community College Police Department, Austin Police Department, Austin Public Safety Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Travis County Sheriff's Office and the University of Texas System Police.

Building on ADL's expertise in monitoring and exposing the activities of organized hate groups and in crafting legal and legislative responses to hate crime, ADL developed this important hate crimes training program for law enforcement professionals. The training seminar offered instruction on the special nature of hate crimes, the legal and constitutional framework in which federal and state hate crime statues operate, and how to perform investigative and enforcement duties in a way that reassures the victims and helps alleviate community tensions and fears.