NYPD will start to track harassment and other non-criminal bias incidents
The NYPD will begin to record non-criminal bias incidents in a data tracking system, part of an upgrade of the complaint reporting system discussed in a recent city council hearing.
During a Committee on Public Safety hearing Monday, NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri indicated that the department will begin recording non-criminal bias incidents in the data system, called CompStat, when asked about how the department factors in bias incidents filed through 311.
“Now when we enter the complaint into the system there will be a checkbox that will trigger a suspected or a motivated hate crime, so that would be a lot easier,” he said. “When you capture data more efficiently obviously the analysis is more efficient.”
Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea also hinted at this change during the Year End Crime Briefing in January:
“Hate crimes is going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So, is it swastikas? Is it misdemeanors? Is it felonies? Is it aggravated? Is it somebody received a letter in the mail or is it somebody got attacked on the street? We’re going to proceed cautiously but my commitment is we are going to add that to the CompStat sheet in some form,” he said. “it will probably take I would think probably a few months or so to get the behind the scenes in order but it’s coming.”
CompStat is a system available to the public that allows users to see weekly, monthly and yearly statistics for different offenses across precincts and boroughs.
It is not clear when the new tracking measures will be added to CompStat.
There were 234 anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City in 2019.
Molly Boigon is the investigative reporter at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @MollyBoigon
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO