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You Can Now Report LA Hate Incidents Online
People hold signs during a rally in solidarity with Asian hate crime victims outside of the San Francisco Hall of Justice on March 22, 2021, in San Francisco.
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Justin Sullivan
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
The public can now file hate incidents in Los Angeles online via the Community Online Reporting Service portal since hate crimes are on the rise. There was a 15% increase in hate crimes in 2023 compared to the year before.
What does this mean: In 2023, a uniformed officer plus a supervisor were dispatched to the scene for activities that amount to a hate incident versus a crime including hate speech, such as a remark, hand signal, or a gesture targeting someone for their race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Now, they can report such incidents online.
Previously, because they were attending to “crimes of violence,” Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said, it would take time for a dispatch to arrive. Now, the process would be faster for a person to report.
If you are a victim of hate crime, you can still call LAPD via 911 for a patrol unit.
Background: The portal was created in 2016 to allow “low level crimes that have little or low level investigative value” to be brought to the police department’s attention, Moore said. In its first year, he said around 1,300 reports were made, but in 2023, more than 131,000 reports were submitted online.
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