Hate crimes in L.A. jump significantly, with transgender people targeted

Hate crimes rose significantly in the city of Los Angeles in 2017, with transgender people increasingly being targeted, according to a report prepared by the Police Department.

According to the LAPD’s report, which was posted online this week, the number of hate crimes totaled 254 last year, a 10.9 percent increase over 2016.

The City Council in January directed the LAPD and the city attorney to report on recent trends in hate crimes and efforts to respond to them.

Councilman David Ryu had pushed for a report after numerous anti-Semitic hate incidents were logged in Council District 4 and throughout Los Angeles last year, saying he was concerned about “an uptick in hate crimes and an emboldening of hate groups.”

The report says 37 anti-Semitic hate crimes and six anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported in 2017 — numbers nearly identical to the previous year — while transgender people were victims in 23 hate crimes, which was up from eight.

The great majority of hate crimes involved vandalism, according to the report.

In 2016, Los Angeles County saw a 67 percent surge in hate crimes where there was evidence of white supremacist ideology compared with the previous year, according to a report released in November by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

The county report tracked 482 hate crimes in 2016, the latest year for which data are available. That was one fewer hate crime than in 2015, which saw a 24 percent increase from the previous year and the highest total since 2011.

The LAPD report did not analyze or mention what races or organizations are believed to be the perpetrators of the 2017 hate crimes. The report also said that the department had made efforts in recent years to reach out to local houses of worship to assist them with security measures and that it also regularly checks on religious facilities during religious holidays.