Salt Lake police are investigating a chilling hate crime — a swastika painted on the driver's side door of a car belonging to a Capitol Hill-area Jewish family.

Police aren't certain exactly where or when the crime occurred, only that the car's owner reported it to them about 7:30 p.m. Monday after noticing the red spray-painted symbol when returning from the grocery store. The car owner, who is in his 50s, didn't want to talk about the matter with news media, Salt Lake City police detective Dwayne Baird said.

"It's very frightening for a Jewish family to have that happen, no matter where you are or where you live," Baird said, adding police were without suspects in the crime.

Hate crimes don't occur in Utah in large numbers — there were 55 in 2002, the last year for which statistics are available from the state criminal investigations bureau — but that doesn't diminish the effect such a crime can have. Salt Lake police were so concerned about the possibility of additional attacks upon the family, they declined even to release their name or address.

The net effect of hate crime — whether expressed as paint-scrawled vandalism, an assault or some other action — is to send a message to the entire community to which the targeted victim belongs, said state Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake.

Litvack, who is Jewish, has been putting forth that message over the past four years as he's tried to get a tougher hate crimes bill passed in the Utah Legislature.

Today Litvack will appear before the Utah Sentencing Commission, asking that body for its support in 2005. Like its predecessors, the latest version of the bill would establish a penalty enhancement of one step for bias crimes. Police and prosecutors have asked repeatedly for such an enhancement because the current law is seen as ineffective.

Garnering the support of the Sentencing Commission shouldn't be tough. When the late Sen. Pete Suazo, D-Salt Lake, failed to pass a hate crimes bill in 1999, it was the commission that researched the laws in other states and helped draft a different take on the legislation. Commission members have long been on record as backing a new hate crimes law, including recent attempts by Litvack.

"There's been nothing to indicate a change," commission executive director Ron Gordon said.

Getting the backing of the mostly conservative Legislature has been tougher, with much of the objection tied to a list of group classifications — age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion and sexual orientation — included in the bill.