A new office to prevent hate crimes will open this summer in Manhattan, officials announced Tuesday.
Hate crimes have increased by 64% since last year and 60% of those incidents were anti-Semitic in nature, the city said.
The office will coordinate the city’s response to hate crimes across several agencies, including the NYPD, the Commission on Human Rights and the district attorney’s offices, among others. The office will also help train police and provide support programs for victims.
“One of the area’s we’re concerned about deeply is the increase in hate crimes,” Mayor de Blasio said at a crime briefing in Brooklyn Tuesday.
The office will be embedded in the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice on the 10th floor of the Municipal Building in lower Manhattan. The exact launch this summer is yet to be determined, but is months ahead of the scheduled November opening.
The office was established with legislation from Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan). The Council estimated that the needed $475,000 in funding next fiscal year and $713,000 annually thereafter. But the mayor’s office only allocated $336,000 next fiscal year.
