Transparency: How NYC’s Increase Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Crime Rate Was Reported

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has a Hate Crime Task Force which investigates and handles hate crimes in New York City. This task force releases quarterly and annual reports on these incidents. The hate crime statistics are available on the Hate Crime Task Force Unit’s portal here.

The data came from the reports titled “Arrest Statistics by Bias Motivation” and “Complaint Statistics by Bias Motivation” for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, quarter one for 2021, quarter two for 2021 and quarter three for 2021. Currently, information for quarter four for 2021 is not available, which is why only quarters one through three for 2021 were used in the story. Once Q4 2021 is published, the annual report will come out as well, which will give a total tally of hate crime complaints and arrests for 2021.

The data from the Hate Crime Task Force is broken down into the timeline (2017 through 2020 are annual and as stated above, 2021 is in three quarters), hate crime victim group (i.e. anti-LGBT, anti-transgender, anti-gender non-conforming, etc.) and a tally of the victim group per precinct. For the story purposes, the non-LGBTQ+ victim groups were omitted.

To analyze the data individually and as a whole, the Hate Crime Task Force Unit’s reports from 2017 through Q3 2021 were uploaded into a Google sheet. The entire spreadsheet is available to the public and can be accessed here via hyperlink. To avoid anyone else changing information in the spreadsheet, it is only available to “view.”

This information was used to determine different trends in different boroughs and neighborhoods, specifically:

• The total number of hate crimes and arrests of hate offenders for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and quarters one through three for 2021.

• The percentage of hate crimes and arrests per year

• The percentage of hate crimes and arrests for all years

• Which boroughs had the highest and lowest numbers of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

• Which boroughs saw an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

• Which boroughs saw a decrease in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

• Which neighborhoods had the highest number of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes

• Which neighborhoods had the lowest number of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

This information is included in the spreadsheet under the tabs titled:

• 2017 - Complaint

• 2017 - Arrest

• 2018 - Complaint

• 2018 - Arrest

• 2019 - Complaint

• 2019 - Arrest

• 2020 - Complaint

• 2020 - Arrest

• 2021 Q-3 - Complaint

• 2021 Q-3 - Arrest

• NYPD Precincts

• NYPD Precincts + Neighborhood Breakdown

The list of NYPD precincts with addresses was found here. To determine which precincts were in which neighborhood, the addresses of the precincts were cross matched with Google Maps to determine the general neighborhood.

All of the aforementioned data was used to write the story, create the graphs, tables, determine percentages and find trends.

To create the actual charts and graphs, Queer on the Street used Piktochart, an graphic design application and infographic maker, to create the infographics and Google Sheets to create the graphs. Google Sheets is completely free and Piktochart is free to use for up to five projects.

On Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at 8 a.m, Queer on the Street contacted NYPD Hate Crimes Inspector and commanding Officer Jessica Corey. Her department oversees the reported hate crime statistics and would be the best person to verify several pieces of information that were missing from the documents. She did not respond.

Queer on the Street sent an email to NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner Public Information, John J. Miller, on Jan. 13, 2022. Miller’s job is to work with local, national and international media organizations for quotes, information, etc. Miller did not respond but instead from another NYPD spokesperson, Sergeant Edward Riley responded. His response were links to the reports that Queer on the Street was referring to in the initial email. He did not respond to the follow-up email.

Queer on the Street contacted Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center (“The Center”), a predominate LGBTQ+ community organization in New York City and inquired about the Center’s stance on what NYC leaders should do in response to the increase of the anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, a general statement about the increase of the hate crimes and verified some information about the information they provide on legal resources for LGBTQ+ folks.

The Center was unable to provide a statement due to being swamped.

After shelving the story for almost a month awaiting responses, Queer on the Street went ahead ad published.