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Hate Crimes Jump 30 Percent in 2016, NYPD Stats Show

By Murray Weiss | November 16, 2016 1:37pm
 Manhattan Street shut down by police car and officer. Stock image. By Songquan Deng (required caption.)
Manhattan Street shut down by police car and officer. Stock image. By Songquan Deng (required caption.)
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Shutterstock/Songquan Deng

NEW YORK CITY — Hate crimes in the Big Apple are up by nearly one-third this year, including a spike during last week’s hotly-contested Presidential election, DNAinfo New York has learned.

NYPD statistics show that anti-Muslim and anti-"sexual orientation" motivations were responsible for much of the rise.

In total, there were 328 reported hate crimes through Nov. 13, compared to 250 incidents for the same period last year, a 31 percent increase, the police figures show.

That’s an average of slightly more than seven per week.

But last week, the number of incidents rose to 11 for the week, which officials attribute to reactions to the election of Donald Trump.

Of the 11 incidents, six involved the painting of Swastikas, two were tied to a person’s sexual orientation, and the remaining three involved religion or an anti-white sentiment.

Police officials believe the increase in hate related crimes in New York this year is tied to the volatile and rhetoric surrounding the presidential election.

Nationwide hate crime figures released on Monday by the FBI also showed an increase in hate crimes across the country by 6 percent, with attacks against American Muslims driving the increase.

The FBI recorded 5,818 hate crimes in 2015 — a rise of about 6 percent over the previous year — which includes assaults, threats, and property destruction against minorities, women, gays and others.

There were 257 reports of assaults, attacks on mosques and other hate crimes against Muslims last year, a jump of about 67 percent over 2014. The FBI number was the largest since 2001, when more than 480 attacks were recorded.

Overall, 59 percent of the hate crimes that the FBI recorded were based on the victims’ race, ethnicity or ancestry. Blacks were the most frequent victims of hate crimes based on race, while Jews were the most frequent victims based on religion, the FBI reported

And attacks against transgender people also sharply increased, the feds found.

The NYPD statistics — while not as detailed — showed a marked increase in the number of incidents involving a person’s “sexual orientation," rising from 66 last year to 98 this year, a jump of 32 cases, or 48 percent.

Crimes with anti-Muslim sentiments rose markedly by 13 incidents here, from 12 last year to 25 so far this year — a 108 percent increase.

Anti-Semitic incidents rose to 111 this year from 102 last year, a increase of 11, and a 9 percent rise.

A few categories, however, have shown decreases this year, the figures also reveal.

For example, incidents involving anti-African American motives fell to 17 through this Nov. 13, compared to 27 for the same period last year, a 37 percent decline.

The number of incidents involving anti-Asian sentiments also dipped to 6 this year from 9 last year.
And hate crimes against Latinos toppled from 8 last year to just 1 so far this year, an 88 percent decline.