Jul 03, 2009  |  By: Lou Chibbaro Jr.  | COMMENTS     

Acting Lt. Brett Parson, who oversees the D.C. Police Department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, spoke June 27 on how police enforce the city’s hate crimes law before an audience of mostly tourists at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment.

The museum, located at Seventh and F streets, N.W., is a privately owned facility. Parson delivered his presentation in the museum’s television studio, which is used by television personality John Walsh to film “America’s Most Wanted.”

Parson talked about how police work with prosecutors and the public to grapple with the relatively new body of law associated with hate crimes. He gave examples of hate crime investigations conducted by D.C. police, including probes into anti-gay hate crimes.

Parson noted that some critics of hate crimes laws believe the laws have created a new category of “thought crimes” that punish people for what they believe rather than for what they do. But he said police in D.C. and other jurisdictions only enforce the laws against people “who act out what they think by committing a crime of violence” based on hatred.

Museum spokesperson David McDermott said Parson’s presentation was part of an ongoing lecture series that the museum offers on crime and law enforcement related subjects.