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FBI Report: Tampa Tops State In Hate Crimes In 2007

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2008

Updated: 10/27/2008 04:25 pm

TAMPA - Tampa led the state in hate crimes in 2007, according to reports made by 74 law enforcement agencies to the FBI.

Tampa had 13 such crimes, according to the bureau report, which was released today. Tampa also led the state in hate crimes in 2006 with 18, according to the FBI statistics.

Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Laura McElroy said the dubious honor was unexpected.

"They took me by surprise," she said.

McElroy said her department has an aggressive policy in reporting such crimes. "We have a zero tolerance when it comes to hate crimes," she said. "We report all possible ones, even those that are probably borderline."

She said the bulk of the 2007 reports involved minor incidents.

"They were mostly graffiti or where someone throws a punch," she said.

Hillsborough County reported four hate crimes in 2007, tied for fifth among the metropolitan counties reporting to the federal agency. It was down from 10 such crimes in 2006.

"Wow, that's a good thing," said Debbie Carter, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "But even one hate crime is one too many."

Florida ranked eighth nationally with 490 reported crimes. Pennsylvania led the nation with 1,173.

Tampa police reported eight hate crimes involving race, four involving religion and one based on sexual orientation.

The sheriff's office reported one each involving race, religion, ethnic background and sexual orientation.

Statewide, Melbourne was second with nine, followed by Gainesville with six.

Collier County led the reporting counties with seven. Lee County reported six.

Other local agencies reporting hate crimes in 2007 were Lakeland, Tarpon Springs and Winter Park, all with one each.

St. Petersburg reported no hate crimes in 2007. City officials reported 13 in 2006.

Of the 13,241 law enforcement agencies that participated in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program, 84.7 percent said they had no reported hate crimes in 2007.

Nationally, 7,624 hate crimes were reported in 2007: 4,347 against people and 3,579 against property. That included nine homicides, two rapes, 2,363 assaults and 2,045 incidents of intimidation.

About half of those crimes were racially motivated, with 68.6 percent of them against blacks. Crimes involving religion accounted for 18.3 percent; crimes involving ethnicity or national origin, 13.2 percent; and crimes against the disabled, 1 percent.

The FBI warns against drawing major conclusions from the data, saying the rough rankings provide no insight into the variables involving a particular jurisdiction and people should be cautious in using the statistics when comparing agencies.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698.

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