D.C. pols push NYPD on bias
Troubling surge in anti-Semitic crime
A recent rise in bias crimes in the city has drawn the attention of lawmakers in Washington.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats are sending a letter to NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill on Monday asking questions about the increase in antiSemitic crimes across the city and offering help to the city’s nascent Hate Crimes Task Force.
Targeted attacks on Jews — including “Kill all Jews” and other messages scrawled in a Brooklyn synagogue, a 9-yearold Hasidic boy being suckerpunched by a stranger and swastikas being spray-painted on the office wall of a Holocaust scholar at Columbia Teachers College — led the collection of politicos to reach out to the city’s top cop.
“We commend your individual attitude, leadership and commitment to ensure that such crime will not be tolerated in our city,” the lawmakers write. “Yet, we remain gravely concerned over the possibility of additional local hate crimes targeting New Yorkers because of their ethnicity or religious background.”
On Friday, the NYPD said hate crimes across the city increased, to 322 from 311 last year, with a sharper rise in anti-Semitic incidents — 168 compared with 136 for the same period of time last year. Through November, the task force made 77 arrests vs. 79 over the same period in 2017.
The pols want to know how the NYPD evaluates risks, how often officers from the Hate Crimes Unit meet with community leaders and if they’re reaching out to schools to talk to students about the impact of bias crimes.
They also want to know if there are plans to add Hebrew translations to the NYPD’s Hate Crimes/Bias Incidents website.
The NYPD is looking into the representatives’ concerns.
Gov. Cuomo also offered a helping hand on Thursday, ordering his state police’s hate crimes unit to aid in the investigation into finding an antiSemitic vandal who scrawled swastikas in the office of Prof. Elizabeth Midlarsky at Columbia Teachers College. The assistance will include intelligence sharing, state officials said.
The city’s Hate Crimes Task Force was created after a jump in bias crimes following Donald Trump being elected to the White House in 2016. In early November, O’Neill indicated at least some of the blame for the rise in bias attacks rests with the White House.
“Increased reports of swastikas and other criminal mischief here in the five boroughs absolutely concerns us,” O’Neill said, noting the “current atmosphere.”
In a statement, the Hate Crimes Task Force said much of its success “derives from its close, robust working relationship with New York City’s diverse communities,” adding that it’s “always looking for ways to bolster its coordination with the community, including exploring new and better ways to communicate with those it serves, and meeting regularly with people in neighborhoods across the city.”
Velazquez applauded the police work, adding that lawmakers just want “assurances that this issue remains top of mind and that they’re deploying sufficient resources to tackle the problem head-on.”
“NYPD has done good work in this area, but it is clear from recent events that we can’t afford to rest,” she told the Daily News. “We want to be certain they have a clear plan in place to take on these vile acts and arrest those who perpetrate them.”