Anne Arundel County launches hate crime prevention program

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – Anne Arundel County just received a $1.2 million grant to work on hate crime prevention, among other hate crime-related initiatives.

The county is hiring Nicola “Dr. Nikki” Smith-Kea to oversee a hate crimes prevention program, County Administrator Steuart Pittman announced Monday.

Anne Arundel is the only county in Maryland to receive the funding this year.

The district had the most reported hate incidents in Maryland in 2020, according to a local forum on the issue, Pittman noted in a press release.

RELATED: Hate crimes forum draws dozens of participants in Anne Arundel County

Just recently, in June, the Push'N Pedals cycling club (which is predominantly black) in Annapolis was attacked and harassed by people shouting racist epithets and throwing rocks.

Additionally, a driving rage attack was investigated in Brooklyn Park in June, and a church in Glen Burnie was vandalized in April.

Last year, a deadly mass shooting at an Annapolis home was charged as a hate crime.

The new hate crime program includes purchasing new state-of-the-art surveillance equipment (such as infrared cameras) to record nighttime incidents, creating hate crime information materials in English, Spanish and Korean, increasing police staffing for public outreach, and training senior officers in hate crime investigation strategies.

Smith-Kea, the new project manager, has worked as a corrections manager and worked with the Philadelphia Police Department and Arnold Ventures' police team.

Pittman said Smith-Kea will “help us take this work to the next level.”