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Hate crimes

Former Bridgwater Officer, West Milford Special Officer Thomas Dinan Dies Former Bridgwater Officer, West Milford Special Officer Thomas Dinan Dies
Former Bridgwater Officer, West Milford Special Officer Thomas Dinan Dies Thomas Dinan, a police officer in West Milford, died on Tuesday, July 30, 10 days after his 66th birthday, the department announced. Dinan joined the West Milford Police Department in June 2018 as a Class II special officer, assisting with traffic details, township events, prisoner watches and transports and court security, police said. Prior to joining West Milford, Dinan spent 27 years in the Bridgewater Police Department, rising to the rank of lieutenant, before retiring in 2015 after serving as patrol officer, narcotics investigator, bias crimes officer and counterterrorism liaison, pol…
Shock Spreads After Imam Shot Dead Outside Newark Mosque (UPDATE) Shock Spreads After Imam Shot Dead Outside Newark Mosque (UPDATE)
Shock Spreads After Imam Shot Dead Outside Newark Mosque (Update) An imam was pronounced dead after being fatally shot outside a Newark mosque on Wednesday, Jan. 3, authorities said. Hassan Sharif was found by officers responding to the Masjid Muhammad Newark mosque on South Orange Ave., at 6:16 a.m., Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé, said.  Police brought Sharif to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m., the Essex County Sheriff's Office said. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said the shooting does not appear to have been an act motivated by bias or domestic terrorism. “We know that in light of global eve…
'Disgrace': Bar Patron Assaults Employee, Launches Tirade At Jersey City Gay Bar 'Disgrace': Bar Patron Assaults Employee, Launches Tirade At Jersey City Gay Bar
'Disgrace': Bar Patron Assaults Employee, Launches Tirade At Jersey City Gay Bar A man assaulted an employee and hurled anti-gay slurs at a Jersey City gay bar on Thursday, Sept. 28, authorities and the bar said. Pint, which has been a Jersey City institution since 1911, said the man asked an employee why they have a rainbow flag. When finding out he was in a gay bar, the man flew into a rage, said gays target children, that gay people and gay bars should be illegal and used a homophobic slur, the bar wrote on Instagram.  He sped away before police arrived, the bar said, but they were able to take a photo of him. View this post on Instagram …
Child Admits Drawing Swastika On Glen Rock Middle School Desk, Police Chief Says Child Admits Drawing Swastika On Glen Rock Middle School Desk, Police Chief Says
Child Admits Drawing Swastika On Glen Rock Middle School Desk, Police Chief Says UPDATE: A Glen Rock middle school student admitted drawing a swastika on a classroom desk, authorities said. The drawing is apparently an isolated incident, Police Chief Dean Ackermann announced on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 17.  The symbol drawn on a desk in a room shared by students from 6th to 8th grade was brought to school officials’ attention by two middle school youngsters on Wednesday, Ackermann said. “Late in the day on Friday it was learned that school officials had identified [a] student who had taken responsibility for the incident, which appears to be isolated,” the chief s…
MANIFESTO: Buffalo Mass Shooter Says These NJ Communities Are 'Deplorable' MANIFESTO: Buffalo Mass Shooter Says These NJ Communities Are 'Deplorable'
Manifesto: Buffalo Mass Shooter Says These NJ Communities Are 'Deplorable' Lakewood, Toms River, Jersey City and Brooklyn, NY, are among the Jewish communities that Buffalo's accused mass shooter considers "deplorable'' in a 180-page manifesto, according to multiple news reports. Payton Gendron, 18, was arraigned Saturday on first-degree murder charges and ordered detained without bail on accusations he carefully planned the massacre at a Buffalo supermarket that left ten people dead. Eleven of the 13 people he shot were black, reports say. Gendron had penned a 180-page manifesto that named Lakewood and Toms River among the communities that the alleged shooter con…
Disturbed Man Who Vowed To Kill Minorities Captured At NJ Mall, Police Say Disturbed Man Who Vowed To Kill Minorities Captured At NJ Mall, Police Say
Disturbed Man Who Vowed To Kill Minorities Captured At NJ Mall, Police Say A disturbed man who threatened to kill minorities at a New Jersey mall was charged with making terroristic threats and held for a psychiatric evaluation, authorities said. Frank Passaro, 66, of Hasbrouck Heights wasn't carrying any weapons when Paramus police arrested him without incident in the north parking garage at the Garden State Plaza early Friday afternoon, Feb. 18, Hasbrouck Heights Police Capt. Joseph Rinke said. None were found in warranted searches of his vehicle and home, nor does Passaro have any weapons registered to him, said Rinke, the officer in charge of the department. …
Man Accused Of Posing As Child, 11, To Harass Fort Lee PD Man Accused Of Posing As Child, 11, To Harass Fort Lee PD
Man Accused Of Posing As Child, 11, To Harass Fort Lee PD A man accused of threatening several law enforcement officers and members of the Jewish community on Long Island pretended to be an abused 11-year-old as part of a relentless harassment campaign against police in Fort Lee, authorities said. Bradley Goldberg, 47, of Cedarhurst, LI, used a voice modifier and untraceable “spoof” numbers as part of the assault, a police complaint charges. Goldberg falsely reported "child abuse, neglect and attempted murder" of the youngster to Fort Lee police several times over a three-week period in March, the complaint obtained by Daily Voice says. Even thou…
Police: ‘Zoombombers’ Invade Asian-American Virtual Church Service Police: ‘Zoombombers’ Invade Asian-American Virtual Church Service
Police: ‘Zoombombers’ Invade Asian-American Virtual Church Service Several people hijacked a virtual service of a predominately Asian-American church in Englewood, uttering ethnic slurs and posting pornographic images, authorities said. More than 150 congregants and others with the Bergen County church were subject to the bias attack on Zoom, Police Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said Saturday. Although invasions of video conferences were once dismissed as trolling, that changed once the spread of COVID-19 made Zoom the app of choice for many forced to communicate remotely. The FBI considers the systemic “weaponization” of Zoom as hate speech and harassme…
Asian-American Business Leaders Create New Initiative To Fight Racism, Discrimination Asian-American Business Leaders Create New Initiative To Fight Racism, Discrimination
Asian-American Business Leaders Create New Initiative To Fight Racism, Discrimination “...We are tired of being treated less than American…”  So begins an open letter in the Wednesday, March 31, 2021 edition of The Wall Street Journal signed by over 1,000 American-Asian business leaders.  Some of the names (or at least their companies) you'll probably recognize: Jerry Yang, Eric Yuan, and Steve Chen, for instance, the co-founder of Yahoo, CEO and founder of Zoom, and co-founder of YouTube, respectively. But there are hundreds more who have made an impact in their fields and communities. In an email sent to supporters, David Lu, a managing partner at Hyphen Captial and one …
NJ Releases Hate Crime Totals By Town, Race, More: Guess Which County Had The Most NJ Releases Hate Crime Totals By Town, Race, More: Guess Which County Had The Most
NJ Releases Hate Crime Totals By Town, Race, More: Guess Which County Had The Most Nearly 40% of all hate crimes reported in New Jersey last year were against Blacks, more than the combined total against whites, Jews, Latinos and Muslims, according to State Police crime figures released Tuesday. 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…
Authorities: Jersey Shore Man Threatened Lakewood Jews In Facebook Message To Murphy, Others Authorities: Jersey Shore Man Threatened Lakewood Jews In Facebook Message To Murphy, Others
Authorities: Jersey Shore Man Threatened Lakewood Jews In Facebook Message To Murphy, Others A Jersey Shore man sent Facebook messages to Gov. Phil Murphy and others threatening to go to Lakewood with a baseball bat and assault members of the Orthodox community for violating the governor's coronavirus restrictions, authorities charged. Anthony Lodespoto, 43, of Howell, remained held Saturday in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River pending a detention hearing on charges of making terroristic threats during a state of emergency, records show. Lodespoto “made threatening statements by way of the direct messaging feature of Facebook against the Jewish community of Lakewood,” Ocean Count…
Authorities: Jersey City Shooters Hated Police, Jewish Community Authorities: Jersey City Shooters Hated Police, Jewish Community
Authorities: Jersey City Shooters Hated Police, Jewish Community State Attorney General Gubir Grewal and other officials provided additional information on the deadly gun battle in Jersey City Tuesday during which "several hundred" rounds were fired, he said.  The suspected shooters, David Anderson and Francine Graham, had five firearms in their possession as well as a simple but working pipe bomb. The pipe bomb and one of the guns was later recovered from a rental van Anderson and Graham used in the attack.  Four of the weapons -- two handguns, a shotgun and a modified AR-15-style rifle -- were found inside the store in the Greenville sec…
Swastikas Found Scrawled At Glen Rock Middle School Swastikas Found Scrawled At Glen Rock Middle School
Swastikas Found Scrawled At Glen Rock Middle School Detectives were investigating the discovery Thursday morning of two swastikas drawn in pencil in a boy's bathroom at the Glen Rock Middle School, authorities said. School officials contacted them after discovering the symbols in the middle school section of a building that also houses the borough high school, Police Chief Dean Ackermann said. Detective Sgt. Jim Calaski "made all appropriate notifications," while the school "has also reached out to parents and is following up with the student body," the chief said. "As of this time there is no evidence to support that this incident is relat…
Neo-Nazi Website To Pay Paramus Comic $4.1M After Ariana Grande Bombing, ISIS Smear Neo-Nazi Website To Pay Paramus Comic $4.1M After Ariana Grande Bombing, ISIS Smear
Neo-Nazi Website To Pay Paramus Comic $4.1M After Ariana Grande Bombing, ISIS Smear A Neo-Nazi website is being forced to pay a Paramus comedian $4.1 million after falsely claiming he was behind the 2017 terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert. Dean Obeidallah, a political comedian and host of his own SiriusXM Progress show, filed a the defamation suit against The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, after the website smeared him as a terrorist behind the 2017 concert bombing in England -- inciting death threats, he said on Twitter. Obeidallah, a Daily Beast writer, vowed to donate any money he collects to hate-fighting organizations. "The goal of this lawsuit is to…
Tactical Teams Deployed At Mosques Throughout Bergen Following New Zealand Massacre Tactical Teams Deployed At Mosques Throughout Bergen Following New Zealand Massacre
Tactical Teams Deployed At Mosques Throughout Bergen Following New Zealand Massacre Mosques throughout Bergen County were getting extra attention Friday following the massacre of 49 worshippers in New Zealand. Bergen County’s Rapid Deployment Team and members of the Regional SWAT team were patrolling the areas around the mosques, where Muslims gathered Friday on what is considered a holy day for the weekly jum’a prayer. “After consulting with [state] Homeland Security and Preparedness officials, we increased the protection over concerns about copycat attacks,” Bergen County Prosecutor’s Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti said. The units were activated at 10 a.m. and wer…
Student, 16, Removed From Prestigious Englewood School For Anti-Black, Anti-Semitic Graffiti Student, 16, Removed From Prestigious Englewood School For Anti-Black, Anti-Semitic Graffiti
Student, 16, Removed From Prestigious Englewood School For Anti-Black, Anti-Semitic Graffiti UPDATE: Officials at Dwight-Englewood Upper School confirmed Friday that a 16-year-old student was removed after they determined that he was responsible for anti-black and anti-Semitic graffiti found scrawled on several restroom stalls across the campus. Head of School Dr. Rodney V. De Jarnett issued a statement earlier that a student was "under investigation and no longer at the school," said Liz Tausner, the schools' director of communications. The 11th-grader has denied involvement, according to sources familiar with the incident. A police investigation was continuing and delinquency co…
Swastikas, Racist Graffiti Spread From Pascack Valley HS To Hills Swastikas, Racist Graffiti Spread From Pascack Valley HS To Hills
Swastikas, Racist Graffiti Spread From Pascack Valley HS To Hills A recent rash of hate symbols that have confounded officials and angered parents have spread from Pascack Valley High School to Pascack Hills. This time, swastikas and a racial slur against black were found Friday in a bathroom at Pascack Hills High in Montvale, Schools Supt. P. Erik Gundersen confirmed.It marks the first such recent incident at PHHS, joining three in less than two months at PVHS. Gundersen, finding himself having to address the troubling issue yet again, said district officials have two specific objectives -- educating the public and making sure whoever was respo…
UPDATE: More Hateful Symbols Reported Found At Pascack Valley High School UPDATE: More Hateful Symbols Reported Found At Pascack Valley High School
Update: More Hateful Symbols Reported Found At Pascack Valley High School UPDATE: A recent rash of hate symbols that have confounded officials and angered parents have spread from Pascack Valley High School to Pascack Hills. https://pascackvalley.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/swastikas-racist-graffiti-spread-from-pascack-valley-hs-to-hills/745334/ ****** ORIGINAL STORY: As calls for healing intensified, more symbols of hate were found at Pascack Valley High School -- for what is now the third time in less than two months, officials said. Students said homophobic and racial slurs were drawn on plaques honoring former high school players on one of the baseball …
2nd Discovery Of Swastikas At Pascack Valley HS In 6 Weeks Comes At Particularly Troubling Time 2nd Discovery Of Swastikas At Pascack Valley HS In 6 Weeks Comes At Particularly Troubling Time
2nd Discovery Of Swastikas At Pascack Valley HS In 6 Weeks Comes At Particularly Troubling Time Although some suspect the work of ignorant delinquents, the discovery of swastikas for the second time in six weeks at Pascack Valley High School comes at a time that most say makes it particularly troubling. Most notably, there was the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting – the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history – by a man who authorities said posted Nazi symbols online. Before that, there were the five swastikas found drawn in shaving cream outside Jewish homes on a Haworth street on Halloween morning. And there was a recent report that incidents of swastika painting have increased t…