LA sees increase in reported hate crimes in the first seven months of 2026

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) - The Los Angeles Police Department today reported a rise in antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in parts of the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, part of a slight overall increase in reported hate crimes in the city in the last year.

The city's Board of Police Commissioners reviewed an LAPD report Tuesday that detailed hate crime trends during the first seven months of 2026 and heard from senior police officials about strategies to address the increases.

From Jan. 1 through July 31, the LAPD recorded 416 hate crimes citywide, compared with 408 during the same period in 2025, an increase of nearly 2%, according to the department's Robbery-Homicide Division.   

"It's an increase of about 2%. Even so, totals remain roughly 20% below 2024,'' said LAPD Detective Dara Hamilton, hate crimes coordinator.   

Of those 416 incidents, 304 involved alleged crimes targeting Black, Latino, Jewish, gay or transgender people, the report showed.   

The sharpest increases in several categories occurred in the LAPD's Valley and West Bureaus, where reported antisemitic hate crimes rose substantially.

In the Valley Bureau, which covers much of the San Fernando Valley, antisemitic hate crime reports increased 41%, from 22 during the first seven months of 2025 to 31 during the same period this year.

Alleged hate crime targeting gay men rose 38%, from eight to 11, while reports of such crimes targeting transgender people doubled, from two to four.   

The Valley Bureau recorded 88 alleged hate crimes overall during the seven-month period, compared with 84 a year earlier. In the West Bureau, antisemitic hate crime reports increased 55%, from 20 to 31.  

Alleged hate crimes targeting gay men rose 31%, from 13 to 17, while crimes targeting transgender people doubled, from four to eight, police said.   

Vandalism and battery were among the most frequently reported offenses in the areas experiencing increases in antisemitic hate crimes, according to the LAPD.

The report also identified declines in hate crimes targeting some racial and ethnic groups.  

In the Valley Bureau, anti-Black hate crimes fell 17%, from 35 to 29, while anti-Latino hate crimes declined 24%, from 17 to 13, according to the report.

Anti-Latino hate crime reports in the West Bureau dropped 33%, while anti-Black incidents remained unchanged at 33.   

Overall hate crime reports declined 20% in the LAPD's Central Bureau and 9% in its South Bureau, according to the department.   

Police cautioned that large percentage increases in individual categories can reflect relatively small changes in the number of incidents.   

The report calls for additional efforts to identify repeat offenders, strengthen security around potentially targeted institutions and increase police contact with affected communities.

Officials recommended directed hate crime coordinators in the Devonshire, North Hollywood, Pacific, West Los Angeles, West Valley and Van Nuys areas to review all 2026 anti-Jewish cases for series and offender links, to conduct site visits to affected institutions with community security partners, to maintain patrol check-ins at those locations through the High Holidays and beyond, and to report results to the board in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The department also emphasized that changes in reported hate crimes do not necessarily reflect changes in the number of crimes committed because many incidents are never reported to law enforcement.   

Police said efforts to encourage victims to come forward could contribute to an increase in recorded incidents, even as the department works to reduce the actual number of hate crimes.

The report cited research indicating that victims frequently decline to contact police because they believe authorities cannot or will not help, fear negative consequences or choose to handle incidents in other ways.   

According to estimates from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 57% of violent hate crime victimizations from 2015 through 2019 were reported to police.

The department also cited a 2024 Stop AAPI Hate survey finding that 72% of Asian American and Pacific Islander hate crime victims in California did not report their experiences to any authority.  

An Anti-Defamation League survey conducted in 2024 and 2025 found that only 5% of Jewish Americans who experienced antisemitic discrimination reported it to police.  

A November 2025 analysis by the Williams Institute found that victims of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes were nine times more likely than other hate crime victims to cite a negative view of police as a reason for not reporting.   

The report also noted that immigration enforcement concerns can discourage Latino and immigrant communities from reporting crimes or discrimination.

LAPD officials recommended measuring the effectiveness of the department's response by examining both whether hate crimes are declining and whether more victims are reporting incidents.  

"The Department therefore recommends that the Board evaluate hate crime strategies against two measures together: fewer hate crimes occurring, and a larger share of those that occur being reported and investigated,'' the report said.   

Rasha Shields, commission president, recommended that the department participate in or launch an education campaign to better inform residents of available options for reporting hate crimes, such as the city's 211 and LA versus Hate initiative, and working with the Civil and Human Rights Department.