Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI’s latest Hate Crime Statistics report shows the number of hate crime incidents and offenses dropped in 2014 when compared with the year before.

The number of hate crimes fell from 5,928 in 2013 to 5,479 in 2014—that’s 449 fewer incidents.

Hate crimes decreased even while an increase of 478 law enforcement agencies voluntarily submitted their data to the FBI, bringing the number to 15,494.

Deputy Assistant Director Randy Thysse…

Randall Thysse: The more agencies that participate, the better data we have. The richer data we have, the better and in-depth analysis we can do.

Halpern: The FBI works with its law enforcement partners to improve the tracking of hate crimes. The Bureau recently updated its hate crime data collection guidelines and training manual with assistance from the Anti-Defamation League.

Thysse: Working with the Anti-Defamation League, they were able to reach out into the community and get all of the parties involved that would help us write the training manual, write those examples that police officers encounter on a daily basis. The more educated a police officer is about what a hate crime is and how they can more accurately fill out their reports gives us better data

Halpern: To see the full report, visit www.fbi.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.

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