NBA eyes Tennis Garden for game

Hate crimes rate goes up nationwide, local cities report few to no incidents

Staff and wire reports • November 19, 2007

WASHINGTON ? Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported Monday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances

Palm Springs, Palm Desert and La Quinta were among the cities that reported hate crimes in their jurisdictions this year, according to the FBI report on 2006 hate crimes issued today.

Police in Cathedral City, Indio, Indian Wells, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs were among those reporting zero incidents of hate crime for all four quarters of 2006.

While Palm Springs reported 8 incidents of hate crimes against sexual orientation -- the highest numbers in the state behind San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego -- local police say that the reporting shows how seriously local law enforcement takes the mission of protecting a population that includes a large percentage of gay and lesbian residents.

"I think it's a reflection on how well-trained our officers are and how they recognize when there's a violation and take it seriously, " Sgt. Mitch Spike, Palm Springs Police spokesman said Tuesday.

Two hate crimes against sexual orientation were reported in Palm Desert, with two reported in La Quinta.

Palm Springs reported one hate crime each against race and religion, with Palm Desert reporting one against race, none against religion and La Quinta reporting zero hate crimes against race and one against religion.

Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.

Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at Jena, La., high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were not included in the report. Only 12,600 of the nation?s more than 17,000 local, county, state and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle Parish, in which the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.

Nevertheless, the Jena incidents, and a rash of subsequent noose incidents around the country, have spawned civil rights protests in Louisiana and last week at Justice Department headquarters here. The department said it investigated the incident but decided not to prosecute because the federal government does not typically bring hate crime charges against juveniles.