DELEGATION FROM STRIFE-TORN REGION OF RUSSIA TO DIALOGUE WITH LA LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

Monday, April 11 through Thursday April 14, 2005, a delegation of law enforcement agencies and community representatives from Stavropol, Russia, will convene with their Los Angeles counterparts for several days of training to discuss strategies for combating hate crimes. Stavropol, a region in the southwest of Russia, is located near the Chechen border, not far from Beslan, the site of last year's horrific school massacre. The region has experienced numerous problems with ethnic conflicts among various groups. The delegation is being sponsored by The Climate of Trust-Los Angeles, a group comprised of the LA Sheriff's Department, the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance, the Los Angeles Police Department, the LA County District Attorney's Office, the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Hate Crimes, and the FBI.

"This program will empower our foreign delegates with new information that will lead to untapped contacts as well as resources, resulting, we hope, in the suppression of hate crimes and xenophobia," said Sheriff Lee Baca. "It will also encourage tolerance, and a respect for diversity leading to a newfound cooperation between groups. Furthermore, this Climate of Trust offers friendship to regions of the former Soviet Union, demonstrating the importance of a strong, diverse coalition that empowers and protects a civil society. And finally, this will show that Los Angeles exports include innovative peacemaking that provides the foundation for democratic values anywhere in the world," he concluded.

Sheriff Baca will welcome the delegation at City Hall, Room #1050, on Monday, April 11 at 9:00 a.m. Additionally, the 5-day program will include working sessions at the LA Police Academy, the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center and a tour of the Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance. Following the delegation's trip to Los Angeles, representatives of the Climate of Trust-LA are scheduled to travel to Russia to build on the exchange.

The program was originally developed by the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal together with various San Francisco law enforcement agencies. Other participating agencies and organizations in the Climate of Trust LA include: LA County Human Relations Commission, Department of Justice - Community Relations Service, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, U.S. Attorney's office, LA Superior Court, Public Defender's Office, Long Beach Police Department, Glendale Police Department, Pat Brown Institute, Western Justice Law Center, and the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles.

For more information, contact Deputy Faye Bugarin at the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau, 323-526-5554 or the Wiesenthal Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.