A new website portal designed to make it easier to report hate crimes and bias incidents in Montgomery County is now open.
Dr. Earl Stoddard, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management, urged anyone who has been a victim or witnessed a hate or bias incident to report it at that website or by calling 311.
Let county officials decide the next step rather than worrying if the incident is worthy of a report, he said during County Executive Marc Elrich’s weekly news briefing Wednesday.
“The person who is using a slur against you may be involved in a more serious action,” Stoddard said, explaining why it is important to report all incidents. “If in doubt, please report it.”
The county can better track issues when more are reported and can also quickly alert victims to incidents of hate graffiti that need to be cleaned up, he said.
Montgomery County Police Captain Jordan Satinsky pointed out that some people haven’t reported incidents in the past because they don’t want the police to show up.
Filling out a form doesn’t mean an officer will arrive at your door, if that is not necessary. It does mean, however, that the person reporting the incident will be able to track what police do in regard to the situation.
Many minority community members are victims, but only few report incidents, said Kate Chance, the county’s faith liaison.
This year, Jews and Muslims were targeted the most, she said. There were about 200 incidents reported against Jews and 12 against Muslims. But many more incidents took place and went unreported, Chance said.
Since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel and resulting war in Gaza, “We did see a rise” in incidents against Jews and Muslims, Satinsky said. “It has kind of leveled off.”
But Stoddard said there is concern that incidents will rise once President-Elect Donald Trump is sworn in. He added that such incidents already have increased since the election. He pointed to a Latino family who were harassed at a restaurant and asked if they were in this country legally.
“These kinds of incidents are abhorrent,” Stoddard said.
