Effigy of Sarah Palin hanging by a noose creates uproar in West Hollywood

But Los Angeles sheriff's officials said the mannequin sporting a beehive hairdo , glasses and a red coat and hanging by the neck, does not rise to the level of a hate crime because it was a part of a Halloween display.

"I'm not defending this; I'm not criticizing it. It doesn't rise to the level of state crime," said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who said he went out to the house himself to look at the display this morning. "Now, if there was a crime against bad taste ..."

Sgt. Kristin Aloma of the sheriff's West Hollywood station said that since Sunday she had received five to 10 calls from residents offended by the display. Officials are monitoring the house to make sure the situation doesn't get out of hand, she said.

Whitmore said that whether or not an action is considered a hate crime is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If the same display had been made of a Barack Obama-like doll, for example, it would be a different situation, he said.

"That adds a whole other social, historical hate aspect to the display, and that is embedded in the consciousness of the country," he said. "It would be ill advised of anybody to speculate on that."

Chad-Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told a local TV news crew that cars and buses have been stopping near his home and that people have been snapping photos of the Halloween display.

The home's decorations also feature a doll of John McCain surrounded by "flames" in the chimney, and other more typical Halloween items, such as skeletons and spider webs.

Kim is a Times staff writer.

victoria.kim@latimes.com