Toronto’s police chief says there has been a major spike in hate crimes in the city since the start of the Israel Hamas War he outlined what police are doing about the increase at a news conference a short time ago the cbc’s Megan Fitzpatrick was listening in and joins
Us now live so Megan the chief called the numbers alarming can you take us through them yeah he presented some numbers for the whole year in terms of hate crimes that have been reported to Toronto police and then broke it down to Andrew in terms of reports since October 7th
And he said since October 7th there have been 17 reported occurrences of hate motivated crimes uh that were either anti-muslim or anti- Palestinian and that’s compared to just one incident in the same time frame last year then he also reported that there have been 38 incidents targeting members of the
Jewish Community here in Toronto um that’s versus 13 for the same period last year uh in total total 78 uh hate motivated incidents have been reported to Toronto police since October 7th um he also though provided some statistics specifically on graffiti incidents um saying that since October 7th 2117 of
Those kinds of uh incidents have been reported to Toronto police that were anti-semitic and 63 graffiti incidents that have been anti-muslim or anti- Palestinian um now he also uh talked about the number of arrests that have been made in recent weeks saying more than 20 people have been arrested and
More than 50 charges have been laid the most common charges being laid Andrew include uttering threats assaults with a weapon and conspiracy to commit Mischief five of those people arrested are under the age of 18 and Megan what are some of the steps being taken by police to
Address this rise in hate crimes yeah there’s been a number of steps um that they’ve outlined uh earlier since October 7th including increasing the number of officers patrolling places of worship for example in the city as well as schools they’ve also set up two mobile command centers both of those are
Located in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods of Toronto that’s meant to make it um easier for residents to report things to police also to provide a sense of reassurance to the community um and help them feel safer according to the police chief he says they are determined and committed to investigating thoroughly every report
That they get here’s more of what he said at the news conference people are being held accountable we are pursuing evidence we are doing warrants we are looking to gather all the evidence we can to bring people to Justice uh so part of what we want is people to be reassured that the
Reporting does matter and that whenever possible we will take every action possible to bring people to Justice who commit those offenses and he also said they do have more officers dedicated to doing these investigations they’ve increased the number of officers on their hate crime unit from six officers up to 32 they’ve
Also created a new online tool for people to more easily report those graffiti incidents um Andrew and while he did call these uh statistics alarming he also said they’re likely under reported um that there is more hate motivated uh incidents happening than they even know about um he says he’s
Heard from um some people in Toronto they are hesitant to report things to police he encouraged members of uh of the communities that are being targeted to come forward and and share information with police um so he said again these numbers that he present today today are really just a snapshot
Of what’s happening in the city right now Megan thank you that is the cbc’s Megan Fitzpatrick live in Toronto
Unprecedented tensions resulting from the Israel-Hamas war have led to an increase in hate crimes across Toronto “the likes of which we have never seen before,” the city’s police chief said during a board meeting on Thursday.
»»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos:
Connect with CBC News Online:
For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage:
Find CBC News on Facebook:
Follow CBC News on Twitter:
For breaking news on Twitter:
Follow CBC News on Instagram:
Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat:
Download the CBC News app for iOS:
Download the CBC News app for Android:
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.
