PITTSBURGH ― The third annual Eradicate Hate Global Summit concluded on Friday with a session focused on what law enforcement officials can do to combat global hate, building on the summit’s three-day-long theme of institutional change. Academics and law enforcement officials outlined ways police departments can better respond to and prevent incidents of hate-driven violence at the Law Enforcement Toolkit session at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. This was the final session of the summit and was immediately followed by closing remarks. The summit was founded in the wake of the Tree of Life massacre in 2018. As community activists looked for a way forward, attorney Laura Ellsworth and University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg formed a group to discuss how to combat antisemitism. In 2021, the first summit launched as a direct result of that group. In its first year, the summit featured 100 speakers — including George W. Bush — and hundreds of attendees. This year’s summit operated on a much larger scale. Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, said the first meeting of the Law Enforcement Toolkit Working Group on Thursday focused on issues present in the criminal justice system. These include excessive physical and verbal force by police officers and a lack of trust between policing agencies and their communities.

Photo Credit: Tessa Williams/Pittsburgh Media Partnership