Reported hate crimes are skyrocketing in the Big Apple, but overall index crime in the city is down by 6.7 percent this year, the NYPD said Thursday.
Bias crimes are up a staggering 67 percent, with 145 incidents this year compared to 87 incidents during the same period last year, according to the latest NYPD crime statistics.
There’s been an 82-percent uptick in anti-Semitic hate crimes reported, with 82 incidents flagged to police from the start of this year up until Tuesday versus 45 incidents during the same period in 2018.
The anti-Semitic incidents account for more than half of the overall hate crimes reported so far this year, according to the stats.
“When you drill down on the anti-Semitic hate crimes we are seeing approximately 80 percent are drawing of swatiskas in some way, shape or fashion throughout New York City,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said.
Evan Bernstein, the New York/New Jersey regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, called the dramatic increase “deeply disturbing.”
The data “should serve as an important reminder to all of us that we must continue to be vigilant in the face of hate,” Bernstein said. “No one should ever have to live in fear that they will be attacked, harassed or targeted because of their faith. New York is no place for hate.”
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation climbed by 45 percent this year — from 11 to 16 — while anti-black hate crimes rose 50 percent from 10 to 19.
Anti-white hate crimes increased by 450 percent, with 11 incidents reported this year compared to 2 reported during the same time period last year, according to the statistics.
Along with the increase in reports, there has been a 100-percent increase in hate-crime arrests by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said.
“We will not tolerate this in New York City,” he said.
Meanwhile, last month saw the lowest number of reported major “index” crimes — which include murder, rape and robbery — of any April since the police department started computerized crime-tracking in 1994, the NYPD said.
“New York City has seen a dramatic reduction in crime, and we continue to make history and set new records by facing the challenges together,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said.
There were also record lows in murder, robbery and burglary last month.
Murders were down by 34.6 percent for the month of April, with 17 slayings compared to 26 during the same time period last year.
There was also a 16.1-percent drop in rape and a 4.3-percent drop in transit crime last month as compared to April of last year.