04-07-2020
The New York Police Department reports that hate crimes against people of Asian descent have risen in New York City. In a statement, the NYPD stated that, “Since the outbreak, the Hate Crime Task Force has investigated 11 cases where all the victims were Asian and targeted due to discrimination based on the Coronavirus pandemic. To date, investigators have apprehended the wanted subjects in seven of these cases.”
According to news outlets, the recent complaints range from verbal harassment to physical assault. Such complaints were relatively rare prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 and blaming China for the virus; the NYPD received three alleged anti-Asian bias complaints in 2019 and none in the first three months of 2020.
The NYPD Chief of Detectives and the New York Attorney General both made statements indicating that these behaviors will not be tolerated in New York, and the state will start a social media campaign to promote unity.