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The World’s Borough saw the largest increase in reported anti-Jewish acts in the city last year, rocketing to 39 from 11 in 2016, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A bill recently introduced in the Assembly by a borough pol would establish a hate crimes prevention training program for Empire State law enforcement agencies.
According to its sponsor, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Flushing), the proposed measure directs the State Division of Criminal Justice Services to develop a training program and associated training materials, to provide instruction and information to State and local police forces on the recognition of and response to hate crimes.
Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) and Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows) have co-sponsored the legislation.
“This training is essential to ensure that law enforcement officers are prepared to handle, and hopefully prevent, hate crimes,” Pheffer Amato said this week as she urged her colleagues to quickly approve A.10023. “In a state as diverse as ours, we must lead the fight in hate-crime prevention.”
The bill is under review in the Assembly Committee on Governmental Operations.
Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League released an audit that indicated that the number of anti-Jewish incidents reported in the city last year surged by more than 90 percent compared to 2016; and of all five boroughs, Queens saw the largest increase in such acts in 2017, swelling to 39 from 11 in 2016.
