State auditors say California underreports hate crimes to FBI

SACRAMENTO— California is underreporting hate crimes to the FBI, state lawmakers and the public because local law enforcement agencies lack adequate policies and training, state auditors said Thursday.

The audit largely blames the state Department of Justice, which oversees the data collection, for not requiring that local agencies do a better job.

Even with the undercounting, reported hate crimes in California increased by more than 20 percent from 2014 to 2016, from 758 to 931. Hate crimes are defined as those targeting victims because of their race or ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or a disability.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who oversees the department and is running to retain the office in next week’s primary election, announced shortly after the audit’s release that he has provided more guidance for local law enforcement and created a new hate crimes prevention webpage and brochure on identifying and reporting hate crimes.

The auditors found that a “lack of proactive guidance and oversight from DOJ has contributed to the underreporting and misreporting of hate crime information.”

Auditors found problems with hate crime policies at all four agencies they reviewed, including the Los Angeles Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department and the San Francisco State University Police Department. The four agencies combined underreported hate crimes by about 14 percent, or a total of 97 hate crimes.

Most of the underreporting was by the LAPD, which objected to some of the findings and said it already has new policies and procedures to comply with auditors’ recommendations. Of 622 hate crimes identified by the LAPD from 2014-2016, auditors found that 89 were not reported to the state.