City officials plan human rights commission, deliver bias crime report

Laramie could soon see the creation of another citizen board, this one focused on making city services more inclusive. Reported bias crimes were down in 2023.

City Manager Janine Jordan presented early plans for a local human rights commission during the Laramie City Council’s work session Tuesday.

Like the police-community relations board approved last year, the proposed human rights commission would serve in an advisory capacity. It would not be able to change city code, but could recommend improvements. It could engage in other activities such as community outreach and education and serve as a forum for issues related to, for example, LGBTQ+ rights, Native American land acknowledgements and matters of disability and accessibility.

“The purpose and mission of the board would be to uphold Wyoming’s constitutional declaration and promise that ‘all members of the human race are equal,’” Jordan told the city council Tuesday. “They would do that by working to defend the dignity and worth of all people in promoting inclusion, equity and mutual respect among community members.”

At the same work session, councilors received the annual bias crime report from Laramie Police Chief Brian Browne.

The chief reported there was one documented bias “incident” and one documented bias “crime” in 2023.

“This year is down from last year if you’re looking at actual crimes,” Browne said. “I believe the two last year were vandalism-related, and this year, we have the one single assault. And we believe the primary motivation is going to be some type of mental illness, and not necessarily a specific ideology.”

Browne added LPD responded to 18,000 calls for service in 2023.

Human Rights Commission

In November, the city of Laramie was named Wyoming’s most inclusive local government by the Human Rights Campaign.

Picking up points for its non-discrimination ordinance, its appointment of LGBTQ-specific liaisons in city government and the police department, and its consistent Pride Month proclamations, Laramie earned an 89 out of 100 — head and shoulders above any other Wyoming city ranked on the Municipality Equality Index.

But Laramie lost points on that index for its lack of a city human rights commission.

There’s now a good chance the city rectifies that in 2024.

City Manager Jordan presented early plans for such a commission during the work session Tuesday, floating the idea and its general outline to gauge councilor interest.

“This board would advise the city government and help us also to build community,” she said. “That’s how I envisioned it, and that’s the niche I think this board could fill.”

Jordan said the commission could serve as “a public forum for building understanding and cultural awareness” and it could recommend or put on educational programs or special events.

“It could advise the city or government on policies and strategies for making municipal government services, programs, systems more accessible and more inclusive for all residents,” Jordan said. “It could provide city officials and residents with information about changing societal conditions, and it could cooperate with other agencies or organizations — whether they’re public or private — whose purposes would be consistent with our Wyoming Constitution and the Laramie Municipal Code.”

City Management Analyst Brannen Moan presented an overview of other human rights commissions across the country. He identified two main flavors of commission:

• Quasi-judicial: a structure that has more power, acts more independently and requires less oversight but is often worse for outreach and education.

• Advisory: a structure that has less power and is more tightly watched or governed, but is better equipped to provide outreach and education.

Given the city manager’s description, Laramie will likely consider the latter, an advisory commission akin to the Police Advisory Board.

With the council’s go-ahead, Jordan will soon bring an ordinance that the councilors can discuss, amend and vote on.

Bias Crimes and Incidents

Despite recent high-profile incidents, Laramie saw fewer bias crimes and incidents in 2023 than it did the year before, according to the Laramie Police Department.

Chief Browne said LPD tracks both bias crimes and bias “incidents.”

“A hate crime is a crime coupled with a motivation for committing the crime based on one of these biases,” he said. “So you have to have both. Just having the motivation and the bias — a lot of those speeches, words, conversations are protected under the First Amendment. So you have to have a crime associated with it.”

In 2023, Browne said there was only one reported bias crime: an assault that took place at the Laramie Soup Kitchen.

“An assault occurred, a racial slur was used, and the individual was arrested and trespassed from the soup kitchen,” Browne said. “And I’ve had an opportunity to speak with the director of the soup kitchen and the officer that took the report. And reviewing the report, we're confident that that individual is no longer in the community.”

The chief added that the arrested individual was likely transient and also likely in “some sort of mental crises” when the assault occurred.

In addition to the one reported crime, LPD also recorded recent events across a number of city council meetings as a bias incident. For several months, the council has been bombarded by bigoted, racist and otherwise “vile” comments from virtual attendees looking to disrupt the meeting.

“I reached out to our federal partners to kind of determine how they wanted us to report this,” Browne said. “What we’ve done is [filed] one suspicious activity report and we’ve added each incident — including the links to the council YouTube videos, also notes from myself, and then we added a narrative.”

Browne also shared national statistics about bias crimes and the underlying biases that motived them. The U.S. Department of Justice figures shared by Chief Browne show that in 2022, 59 percent of victims targeted in single-bias incidents were targeted for their race or ethnicity, 17 percent were targeted because of their religion, and another 17 percent were targeted for their sexual orientation. Single-bias crimes targeting gender identity, disability or gender accounted for the rest.

“We do expect the religion and the race numbers to increase significantly this year due to incidents occurring in Gaza,” Browne told the council.

In last year’s report, covering calendar year 2022, LPD reported zero bias incidents and three bias crimes, each targeting the LGBTQ+ community.