Report Shows Huge Jump in the Number of Hate Crimes : Trend: The Orange County Human Relations Commission found more than a dozen ethnic groups were targeted in 1991.

More than 120 hate-related incidents were recorded by Orange County law enforcement agencies in 1991, a dramatic jump over previous years and a trend that is likely to grow worse, according to some community leaders.

A report released Friday by the Orange County Human Relations Commission shows that an average of 10 incidents were recorded each month, with most occurring in January and apparently spurred by animosities stemming from the Persian Gulf War.

But the report shows that hate crimes followed no other pattern, with incidents directed at more than a dozen different ethnic groups, at young and old and at church, home and school.

“I can’t look at these numbers and not feel that they are significant, alarming and different than what we’ve seen in the past,” said Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Human Relations Commission, who chaired the meeting of the hate crimes task force at which the figures were presented.

Meanwhile, representatives of gay and lesbian groups who attended the meeting charged that the latest hate-related incident occurred in the form of an editorial written by the editor of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs in that group’s newsletter.

In the editorial, Deputy Agustin Alvarez alluded to the changing definition of some words and phrases and wrote, “The classic is ‘homophobic’ which means that you can’t dislike homosexuals. . . . When I worked sex crimes and would arrest homosexuals for molesting little boys, was I being ‘homophobic’ or just competent?”

Elena Layland, a spokeswoman for the group Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said, “I am very angry, and the gay and lesbian community is raging.”

Layland and others said they were most upset at the lack of response from Sheriff Brad Gates. Neither Gates nor Alvarez could be reached for comment.

The report included evidence of the explosive nature of relations among all groups in the county.

Among the more recent incidents recorded were:

* A Japanese family in Villa Park found the words “Jap go home” and other slurs written on their car.

* A burned cross, bedsheet, hood and hangman’s noose were found at a park in Lemon Heights, where the playground equipment was also defaced.

* Swastikas and devil worship symbols were spray-painted on a church in Fullerton which has a Korean congregation.

* Racist phrases and swastikas were written on the walls of a home owned by a Chinese-American businessman.

The 1991 figures represent a sharp increase from 1990, when 16 hate-related incidents were recorded. Fourteen incidents were recorded in 1989, and 20 in 1988.

Kennedy and others attributed much of the increase to better reporting methods and the creation last year of a coalition of county law enforcement agencies and community groups charged with tracking such incidents.

Placentia Police Chief Manuel Ortega, who is a member of the Human Relations Commission, said officers today are recognizing hate crimes as more than malicious mischief.

“That’s one reason for the drastic increase,” he said. “I think there were probably just as many incidents in previous years that weren’t reported as such.”

But other authorities say the numbers of actual incidents are rising, sparked by the county’s changing ethnic make-up and hard economic times.

“Whenever we see our economy as (bad) as it is now, people tend to look for scapegoats and target all minorities,” said Chelle Friedman, a spokeswoman for the Jewish Federation of Orange County.

And experts say dramatic demographic changes have increased ethnic tension and spurred many hate-related incidents.