CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Albuquerque, New Mexico reported that hate crime is on the rise, and it wants New Mexicans to know that that they are going after this crime with an elevated seriousness. The bureau found hate crime rising in its Hate Crime Statistics journal which published on August 30, the report covered hate crime through 2020, which saw a slight increase. None of Cibola County’s police agencies reported a single case of hate crime in 2020.
In 2019 New Mexico saw 50 hate crimes across the state, in 2020 that number rose to 55. The bureau determined most of the state’s hate crimes were race or ethnic based. According to the report, 35 of the 55 hate crimes reported last year targeted a person’s race, ethnicity, or ancestry.
Not a single local police agency in Cibola has reported a single hate crime case since at least 2018, according to the hate crimes report. This includes the Grants and Milan police departments, the county sheriff’s office, and tribal police forces; it does not include the New Mexico State Police. NMSP reported a single hate crime incident to the FBI in the third quarter of 2020, according to FBI data.
“Hate crimes, defined as a traditional offense with an added element of bias, are the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities,” according to Frank Fisher, FBI public information officer. The FBI has jurisdiction over all crimes which violate federal statute, including hate crimes and discriminatory actions which violate civil rights, according to a press release from the Albuquerque FBI office.
According to the FBI, 16 of the reported hate cases were Anti-Black or Anti-African American; Six cases were Anti-Hispanic or Latino, an additional six were Anti-White; five cases were Anti-Gay, specifically targeting men, an additional five cases were “Anti-Other Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry”; two hate crimes were anti-LGBT – targeting the people as a group, two were Anti-Transgender – targeting trans people specifically, and two were Anti-Male – targeting men exclusively; the following were each reported once to various police throughout the state: Anti-Catholic, Anti-Female, Anti-Islamic (Muslim), Anti-Lesbian, Anti-Disability, Anti-Mormon, Anti-Multiple Religions, Antii-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Anti-Other Religion, Anti-Sikh, and one hate crime which was identified as Multiple Bias.