Hate crimes reported to Richmond RCMP almost doubled last year with 21 files in 2020 compared to 11 in 2019.
There were also more “hate incident” files – not considered a criminal code offence – in 2020: 13 were reported to police while there were only nine in 2019.
In the first three months of 2021, five hate crimes have been reported to Richmond RCMP as well as 10 “hate incidents.”
While the number of hate crime files in 2020 was a lot higher than in 2019, in fact, the previous year saw almost as many with 19 hate crimes and four hate incidents reported to police in 2018.
The data makes up part of the RCMP report going to council’s community safety committee meeting next week.
This follows last week’s council meeting where city councillors debated whether to include hate crime as a focus for the RCMP in its work plan this year.
Supt. Will Ng, the officer in charge of Richmond RCMP, told council they collected the data, but had not included it in previous reports.
The report to council explains that "When a person makes a racist, homophobic or other abhorrent comment, it is not a criminal offense and police are generally unable to pursue an extensive criminal investigation. These occurrences are often classified as 'hate incidents.'"
Previously, the RCMP has explained to the Richmond News that some incidents have “racial undertones” but aren’t criminal offences, so they are aren’t considered hate crimes, rather police call them “hate incidents.”
Incidents that promote genocide and inciting hatred, including distributing hate propaganda, are considered offences under the Criminal Code.
- with files from Valerie Leung
