Bias Crimes Up In Union County, 2 Reported In Fanwood

NEW JERSEY - State officials tallied a significant increase for reported hate crimes in Union County, according to a recent report from the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

The report includes 2 bias incidents reported last year to Fanwood police in 2021 (3 bias incidents were also reported in 2020).

Overall, Union County law enforcement took in 84 reports of alleged bias incidents in 2021. The county had 60 reported bias incidents in 2020, according to state officials.

Meanwhile, people reported a record-high 1,871 bias incidents to law enforcement throughout New Jersey in 2021 — a record high, which the attorney general's office attributes to several potential reasons. The 29 percent increase from 2020 likely reflects a combination of improvements in the process for reporting hate crimes, community outreach and other developments linked to a rise in hate crimes and bias offenses nationwide, officials said.

"Better reporting is only part of the explanation," the attorney general's office said in a news release. "After analyzing data from 2019 to 2020, the Division on Civil Rights links the increase in reported bias incidents during that period with multiple social and political factors. They include the COVID-19 pandemic, backlash against the Black Lives Matter protest movement that grew from the murder of George Floyd, and racialized rhetoric around the 2020 election."

According to the preliminary data, anti-Black and anti-Jewish bias were the most common race- and religion-based motivations for reported bias incidents in 2021, as in past years. Anti-Black bias was cited as a motivation for 686 reported bias incidents in 2020 and 877 reported bias incidents in 2021 — representing 39 percent of all reported motivations in both years.

Anti-Jewish bias was cited as a motivation for 298 reported incidents in 2020 and 347 reported bias incidents in 2021 – representing 17 percent of all reported motivations in 2020 and 15 percent of all reported motivations in 2021.

Additionally, the state office tallied 373 reported bias incidents against LGBTQ people last year — a 64 percent increase after 227 were reported in 2020. If these incidents are treated as a single category, they represent the second-largest for reported bias incidents in 2021, behind anti-Black crimes.

The preliminary data also shows an increase in reported bias incidents against Asian people — 129 in 2021, an 87 percent increase from the 69 reports the prior year.

Specific information on incidents in each county or town was not immediately available. But here are the amounts of bias-incident reports that Union County law-enforcement agencies received in 2021, according to the attorney general's office:

CRANFORD PD: 12
ELIZABETH PD: 11
WESTFIELD PD: 11
BERKELEY HEIGHTS PD: 8
SUMMIT PD: 7
UNION TWP PD: 7
LINDEN PD: 6
MOUNTAINSIDE PD: 5
CLARK PD: 4
FANWOOD PD: 2
HILLSIDE PD: 2
KEAN UNIVERSITY PD: 2
RAHWAY PD: 2
ROSELLE PD: 2
GARWOOD PDL 1
NEW PROVIDENCE PD: 1
SPRINGFIELD TWP PD: 1

With reporting by Josh Bakan.