Anne Arundel County Receives $1.2 Million Grant To Implement New Hate Crime Prevention Program; Hires Senior Project Manager; Nicola “Dr. Nikki” Smith-Kea, PhD, will lead the implementation of a comprehensive hate crime prevention program, which will include law enforcement training, enhanced community outreach programs, and the procurement of new, state-of-the-art surveillance equipment.
Annapolis, MD - County Executive Steuart Pittman announced the hiring of Nicola “Dr. Nikki” Smith-Kea, PhD as the new Senior Project Manager to manage a $1.2 million grant award through the US Department of Justice to implement the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program in the county. Anne Arundel County’s Hate Crime Prevention Program will develop a comprehensive approach to hate crime prevention, investigation, and prosecution and provide services to victims of hate bias incidents.
“This project is a continuation of work that we began at our Hate Bias Forum in early 2020 after learning that our county led the state in reported hate bias incidents,” said County Executive Pittman. “We are thrilled to have Dr. Nikki on board to help us move this work to the next level.”
Anne Arundel County received three times the original grant request as a result of the strength of the original application, becoming the only county entity in Maryland to be awarded the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program Grant during this cycle. The program will also include conducting leadership-level training on hate crime investigation strategies, enhanced police department staffing for community outreach, and the procurement of new, state-of-the-art surveillance equipment to capture incidents occurring at night.
Dr. Nikki most recently served as a Stoneleigh Fellow and Executive in Residence with the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), where she worked on promoting and developing internal accountability, healthy police-community engagement, and officer safety and wellness practices. She worked in collaboration with the PPD Executive Team to help lead and implement numerous reform efforts, including the development of an Early Intervention System (EIS), Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE), Place Network Investigation (PNI), the 30x30 Initiative to increase women in policing, and the development of a racial equity plan for the PPD.
As Criminal Justice Manager on the Arnold Ventures Policing team, Dr. Nikki managed initiatives involving law enforcement practitioners, policymakers, research institutes, national membership organizations, and advocates. Her prior roles include project manager, senior policy analyst, and technical assistance manager for the Council of State Governments Justice Center, where she helped to promote healthy police/mental health collaborations across the U.S. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology and a master’s in sociology from the University of the West Indies; a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland, and a master’s and PhD in leadership and change from Antioch University.
Dr. Nikki will manage the programmatic aspects of the county’s Hate Crime Prevention Program under the direction of the Office of Equity and Human Rights.
Click here to learn more about the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd. Jr. Hate Crimes Program grant.
