Hate crimes rose statewide in 2010, fell outside N.Y.C. Democrat and Chronicle democratandchronicle.com
ALBANY — The number of hate-crime incidents was up 2 percent statewide last year, but there was a 27 percent increase in New York City and a 14 percent drop elsewhere in New York, according to a state report released Thursday.
The Division of Criminal Justice Services' annual report on hate crimes said police handled 699 incidents, 16 more than in 2009. Fifty percent took place in New York City, 48 percent were upstate and 2 percent were handled by law enforcement agencies that cover multiple counties.
Five counties — Erie, Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester — accounted for 63 percent of bias-motivated crimes reported outside New York City and 54 percent of the 263 arrests on hate-crime charges that were reported last year, the report said.
Eighty-two percent of the 460 reported crimes against people involved simple assault and intimidation, and 92 percent of the 239 property incidents resulted in destruction, damage or vandalism, the state found.
Hate crimes represent a small fraction of total crimes in New York, but the Department of Criminal Justice Services closely scrutinizes them and is required by law to issue a report each year, Acting Commissioner Sean Byrne said Thursday.
"A hate crime is a crime against the entire community," he said. "It is meant to have a more pernicious effect than a regular crime. It's the motivation that makes hate crimes something that we focus on.""
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