Not In Our Town Executive Producer Patrice O'Neill sat down with Bernard Melekian, Director for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), to talk about the role of the police in addressing hate crimes. In this short interview, Melekian addresses the following questions:

• What is community policing?
• What's an example of a good community policing practice?
• How can community policing help people address hate crimes?
• Why is hate crime data so difficult to collect?
• Why does hate crime classification matter?
• How does community policing serve victims?
• What message do you have for police department leaders?

Not In Our Town has joined forces with the COPS Office to increase hate crime awareness and foster safety and inclusion for residents nationwide.

To learn more about this initiative and get involved, visit http://www.niot.org/cops [2].