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The town with the most reported bias incidents in 2020 was Lakewood, the figures show.
More than half of all reported bias incidents in New Jersey last year involved straight harassment, as opposed to vandalism and other related crimes.
More than 13% occurred at schools, parks or playgrounds.
The county with the most, overall, was Monmouth.
The preliminary data released Tuesday includes a breakdown of bias incidents by type of offense, type of victim and municipality, among other categories.
CLICK HERE to download the spread sheet: 2020 NJ Bias Incident Data
By race, a total of 1,758 bias incidents reported to law enforcement in New Jersey in 2020 included:
- 682 anti-Black or African-American incidents (38.8%);
- 298 anti-Jewish incidents (16.95%);
- 122 anti-gay (male) incidents (6.94%);
- 102 anti-Hispanic/Latino (5.8%);
- 72 anti-white incidents (4.10%);
- 68 anti-Asian (3.87%);
- 59 anti-multiple racial incidents (3.36%);
- 51 anti-LGBTQIA incidents (2.90%);
- 48 anti-Muslim incidents (2.73%);
- 29 anti-lesbian (female) incidents (1.65%);
- 14 anti-gay (female) incidents (0.80%).
The five NJ municipalities with the most bias incidents reported to police were:
- Lakewood (Ocean County), 44;
- Hamilton Township (Mercer County), 35;
- Wayne (Passaic), 28;
- Ocean Township (Monmouth County), 24.
- Howell Township (Monmouth County), 23.
What’s more, Keansburg had 19, Marlboro Township had 16, Neptune Township had 15 and Middletown had 13 -- all Monmouth towns.
New Brunswick had 17, with Rutgers University reporting an additional 8.
Montclair had 18.
In Bergen County, Englewood, Hackensack and Paramus each had 15, while Teaneck and Fort Lee each had 12.
Among the rest with a dozen or more reported hate crimes from 2020:
- South Brunswick had 18.
- Lower Township had 16.
- Linden had 16.
- Clifton had 15.
- Cherry Hill had 15.
- Medford Township had 15.
- Edison had 14.
- Princeton Township had 14.
- Egg Harbor Township had 14.
- North Plainfield had 13.
- Newton had 13.
- Mount Laurel had 13.
- Lawrence Township had 12.
128 towns reported only one incident each.
Individuals were targeted in 1,152 reported incidents (79.56%). Religious institutions were targeted in 52 incidents (3.59%). Government was targeted in 46 cases (3.18%). Businesses were targeted in 40 (2.76%).
The figures were also broken out by location. Hate crimes were reported at or in:
- 358 residences (28.84%);
- 216 highways, roads or streets (14.99%);
- 96 elementary or secondary schools (6.66%);
- 32 colleges or universities (2.22%);
- 66 parks or playgrounds (4.53%);
- 57 parking lots, drop lots or garages (3.96%);
- 39 churches, synagogues or other houses of worship (2.71%);
- 36 convenience stores (2.50%);
- 33 restaurants (2.29%).
By type of crime:
- 726 were straight harassment (50.38%);
- 101 were labeled intimidation (7.01%);
- 65 were terroristic threats (4.51%);
- 307 were through vandalism (21.3%);
The reporting ran into trouble designating incidents by the alleged offender’s race.
A total of 1,047 offenders were listed as “unknown” (72.66%).
A total of 323 were listed as white (22.41%).
Another 48 were listed as black (3.33%) and 14 as Asian (0.97%).
Of the rest, seven of the alleged offenders were listed as multi-racial and two as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific ethnicity.
For the purposes of reporting, a bias incident is a “suspected or confirmed violation of New Jersey’s bias intimidation statute,” in which a victim is subjected to harassment, assault, terroristic threats or other particular offenses “because of race, color, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, or ethnicity.”
An official 2020 Bias Incident Report with more in-depth analysis will be published later this year, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.
Bias incident data – broken down by type and county -- will be released to the public monthly beginning in April, Grewal and State Police Supt. Col. Patrick J. Callahan said last week that
But here’s the catch, Grewal said: It can only include bias incidents reported to police.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, more than half of hate crime victims traditionally haven’t reported them, he noted.
For that reason, Grewal encouraged citizens to report bias incidents to their local police departments, or via the NJBIAS online portal at bias.njcivilrights.gov or by calling 800-277-BIAS.
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