WASHINGTON – The FBI’s New Jersey field office announced on Wednesday the rollout of a public awareness campaign against hate crimes. The campaign aims to encourage the public to report hate crimes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will feature messaging in 17 languages, including Hebrew and Yiddish.
“Beginning in August 2021 and continuing until early November, residents and commuters in New Jersey will see the ‘Protecting Our Communities Together’ messages on New Jersey Transit buses, in rail stations, on trains, on billboards along major New Jersey roadways, and in digital ads on various websites,” the FBI said in a statement.
The messages are part of a national campaign, as the Bureau’s 56 field offices have received funding to promote awareness and encourage people to report such incidents either by phone or at the FBI’s website.
The Newark press briefing included members of the Hispanic, Orthodox Jewish, Asian Indian, and LGBTQ communities.
Special Agent in Charge George Crouch Jr. said in a phone briefing with reporters that New Jersey has experienced a rise in hate crimes in the past two years, especially with respect to race. “Yet, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Statistics believes the majority of hate crimes go unreported,” he said. New Jersey is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the US.
According to Crouch, in recent years, the FBI has seen an uptick in the number of incidents labeled as hate crimes, which are the highest priority of the FBI civil rights program.
“A federal hate crime involves physical harm, threat or intimidation based on bias toward an individual or group because of race, religion, gender or gender identity, national origin or sexual orientation,” he said. “The FBI encourages every citizen to report any crime that they witnessed or that victimized them.
“We realize that members of the general public may not even be aware that the FBI is investigating these incidents,” he continued. “That’s why for the next several weeks, the citizens of New Jersey will see messaging on billboards and rail stations, reminding them of that fact and encouraging them to report hate crimes to the FBI on our Web page or by phone.
“This is a part of a nationwide campaign to raise awareness and encourage reporting,” said Crouch. New Jersey has, unfortunately, experienced a rise in hate crimes in recent years, especially with respect to race.” He went on to say that many crimes go unreported. “We want to fix that.
“My goal is to investigate those crimes and bring those perpetrators to justice and hopefully by engaging in this and getting the word out there with more reporting, you’ll see more activity in this, and people will band together and say, ‘Hey, one is too many’ and will have an impact within those communities so that we can prevent this from happening in the future,” he said.
Executive vice president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America Rabbi Moshe Hauer participated in the event.
“Too many people within our community treat the hate and discrimination they experience as an expected part of life,” he said in a statement. “Until we learn to report these regular incidents as they occur, our law enforcement authorities won’t be able to pursue the culprits, nor will meaningful change occur.”
The OU welcomes the opportunity to partner with the FBI in this awareness campaign, and we hope that those who experience hate crimes and discrimination will report these incidents,” said Rabbi Hauer, who spoke during the press conference.
According to OU, though the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics believes the majority of hate crimes go unreported, “the FBI’s most recent hate crimes report notes that Jews remain by far the religious group most targeted for hate crimes, comprising 60% of them.”