In 2019, More Than Half of Reported Hate Crimes Were Anti-Jewish, Says NYPD

(JTA) — In New York City, more than half of all hate crimes reported in 2018 and so far in 2019 were anti-Jewish.

According to Police Department figures released Thursday, of the 145 hate crimes reported in January through April 2019, 82 incidents –  nearly 57 percent – were anti-Jewish.

In 2018, there were 353 total hate crime complaints, up from 325 in 2017, and the NYPD made 149 arrests. Of these hate crimes, 186 – or nearly 53 percent – had anti-Jewish bias, up from 151 in 2017.

The NYPD tally is of reported complaints and arrests, not convictions.

Three precincts with large Hasidic populations, all in Brooklyn, reported the most anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2018. The 71st Precinct, which encompasses part of Crown Heights, reported nine anti-Jewish hate crimes, the most of any precinct. Precincts including Williamsburg and Borough Park each had seven.

Sixty-nine – or 37 percent – of 2018’s anti-Jewish hate crime reports resulted in an arrest. Forty of the alleged perpetrators were white, 25 were black, two were Hispanic and two were Asian.

“The data released by NYPD today is deeply disturbing and should serve as an important reminder to all of us that we must continue to be vigilant in the face of hate,” said Evan Bernstein, the New York-New Jersey regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. “On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, it remains imperative that New Yorkers continue to stand up to condemn these hateful and anti-Semitic acts. No one should ever have to live in fear that they will be attacked, harassed or targeted because of their faith. New York is no place for hate.”