The Safe Place program began with Seattle Police Department in 2015, originally born out of a need to address low reporting of anti-LGBTQ crimes. In 2018 it was expanded to include all hate crimes. Currently, there are over 360 agencies throughout the world licensed in the Safe Place program. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is the 361st agency.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Safe Place Initiative is a partnership between this agency and the business community to help respond to hate crimes. Safe Place gives people who have experienced a crime of bias or hate a safe place to go after their incident, where they can be assured that the business will shelter them while they call for help.
Under this program, businesses have the opportunity to visibly display an easily identifiable “Safe Place” decal, assuring any victim of a hate crime that the location is a safe space for someone to seek shelter, as the Sheriff’s Office is contacted.
Contact the members of the PBSO LGBTQ Liaisons Unit :
lgbtqliaisons@pbso.org
This project was supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number 15JCOPS-24-GG-02552-PPSE awarded to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. The opinions contained herein are those of the author(s) or contributor(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific individuals, agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the author(s), contributor(s), or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues. The Internet references cited in this publication were valid as of the date of publication. Given that URLs and websites are in constant flux, neither the author(s) nor the COPS Office can vouch for their current validity.
