“Hate Crimes Rising” was originally published at the Los Feliz Ledger

Carl reports on trending hate crime as local officials in Los Angeles respond to a rise in hate crime in their city and the rest of the nation (with big thanks to editors who helped whip this story into shape).

EXCERPT:

Homophobic slurs and vandalism were discovered earlier this year on the front and back doors of an apartment on North Edgemont Street in Los Feliz, shocking its renters.

“We have never had any remotely hostile interactions with any of our wonderful neighbors,” posted the renter on the social media site, Nextdoor, “so this has caught us by surprise.”

The local incident was just one of many that have been reported to authorities, who say such hate crimes have spiked locally, mirroring a nationwide trend, the most recent occurring at a synagogue in Poway, CA, April 27th.

The Los Angeles Police Dept. (LAPD), reported to the Los Angeles City Council that hate crimes increased 17% in Los Angeles from 2016 to the end of 2018 and were up 5% just last year, according to a January statement from Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu’s office.

In response to the increase, the City Council instructed the LAPD to report on ways to improve security near sites perceived to be higher-risk targets of hate crime, including religious centers and LGBTQ community institutions.

“We’ve always been preparing, but we wanted to be more prepared and vigilant, as well as seeing what more we could do. Whenever there is hate crime, hate speech or anything hate, you can rest assured they’re often going to include the Jewish community and the LGBT community,” Ryu said in an interview.

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