Tennessee sees steep rise in hate crimes

Source: The Tennessean

The biggest increases were seen in bias against people based on disability and religion, according to a report released Thursday by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The only decline was in crimes based on ethnicity, according to the report. The problem is still considered a small one, though, with hate-bias crimes representing less than 1 percent of the crimes reported statewide.

"I think law enforcement is more sensitive to hate crime today than ever before," said Kristin Helm, spokeswoman of the TBI. "Their people are more well trained. Even though it did show an increase, you have to ask if this is happening more, or are they getting better at reporting it?".

In Nashville, Metro police reported just eight hate crimes to the TBI all year in 2008. All were reported as unknown bias, meaning the officer suspected a hate crime but the type of offense wasn't reported to the TBI.


Read more: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090529/NEWS03/905290364/1001/NEWS/Tennessee+sees+steep+rise+in+hate+crimes