Hate crimes against Asian Americans and other members of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Los Angeles rose sharply in 2020, mirroring a national trend and causing concern among police and local advocacy organizations.
According to a report presented to the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday, there were 15 anti-Asian hate crimes reported in the city in 2020, compared with seven in 2019, marking a 114% increase.
There were also nine hate “incidents” — or bigoted encounters that don’t rise to the level of a crime — compared to seven in 2019, police said. Several anti-Asian hate crimes have occurred so far this year.
Both police and advocates said they believe many more incidents occur than are reported, and that they are working to better identify, track and record such encounters and conduct more outreach in local Asian communities to encourage reporting by victims.
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