Hate Crimes In Haddonfield: FBI Report Shows Increase

HADDONFIELD, NJ — In a disturbing local trend, incidents of reported hate crimes in Haddonfield have increased over the last two years, according to data recently released by the FBI. There were incidents reported each of the last two years after zero incidents were reported in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

There was just one hate crime reported in Haddonfield in 2017, followed by two in 2018. Each year, there was one hate crime reported under the race/ethnicity/ancestry category. In 2018, there was also a report of a religious hate crime.

In all, the FBI said there were 172 hate crimes committed in New Jersey in 2018. Read more here: FBI Says Hate Crimes Were In 172 NJ Towns: Here’s Where

The reports come as New Jersey was still coming to grips with horrific shooting deaths of six people in Jersey City. A suspected shooter in what NJ Gov. Phil Murphy called a deadly "hate crime" reportedly left behind a horrifying note. Read more: Horrifying Note Reportedly From Attacker In Jersey City Killings

Also, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said on Twitter Friday that "it'll become increasingly clear that the target was the 50 children at the Yeshiva attached to that store," he said, referring to the kosher grocery store where five of the peope died. Read more: Gov. Murphy: Jersey City Attack Was 'Hate-Crime;' Video Released

A police officer died at a nearby cemetery before the two attackers, fueled by hate toward Jewish people and law enforcement, attacked the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket on Tuesday.
In the FBI report, there was slight decrease in hate crimes nationally in 2018 compared with 2017. The FBI found that the reported number of hate crimes in the United States decreased slightly from 7,175 incidents in 2017 to 7,120 in 2018.

Whether fewer hate crimes were reported to police in 2018 than 2017 is difficult to ascertain because 110 fewer law enforcement agencies participated in the program overall compared with the previous year.

In 2018, 16,039 agencies participated in the report; however, only 2,026 submitted incident reports about hate crimes. The remaining agencies reported no hate crimes to the FBI.

In New Jersey, the agencies reported 571 hate crimes to the FBI, an increase of 76, or 15 percent, from the number of documented hate crimes in 2017.

According to the FBI, a majority of the victims nationally (59.6 percent) were targeted because of a bias toward race, ethnicity or ancestry. The second most common reason a victim was targeted was because of religion (18.7 percent), followed by sexual orientation (15.8 percent), gender identity (2.2 percent), disability (2.1 percent) and gender (0.7 percent), according to the statistics.

The FBI says 53.6 percent of the known offenders were white, 24 percent were black or African American, and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders. The percentages for white and black or African American known offenders both increased by about 3 percent from 2017. According to the FBI, a "known offender" does not imply that a suspect's identity is known but that "some aspect of the suspect was identified."

"Before a community addresses hate- and bias-motivated crimes, all stakeholders need to understand the local problem," the U.S. Department of Justice advises. "The best assessment method is the SARA model: scanning for the problems, analyzing the facts, responding to reduce the problems, and assessing the outcome of the response."

The Department of Justice also provides a list of tips to help ensure local law enforcement is partnered with the community in a joint mission to stop hate crimes from happening.

• Network with others in the community and ask who they recommend including in the partnership.
• Research and understand how involved your local law enforcement agency is with community policing, and identify a liaison officer at your local law enforcement agency who might serve as a point of contact.
• Reach out to the chief of police or sheriff, as well as any other key personnel you would like to participate in the partnership.
• Focus on solutions rather than problems when meeting with your local chief or police or sheriff.

Hate crimes are currently the highest investigative priority of the FBI's civil rights program, according to the agency.