bias incidents and hate crimes continue to rise in New Jersey and this might surprise you the place they're most likely to be reported are K- 12 schools those are some of the preliminary findings in a report from the State Attorney General's office that also finds bias incidents jumped 22% last year compared to the previous year that would make 2023 the eighth year in a row that reported incidents of bias have increased simply because of a person's race religion sexuality or gender expression Banna vosi sat down with attorney general Matt platkin as part of our exploring hate series to ask who's being targeted what's behind this Surge and what the state is doing about it attorney general platkin uh thanks for coming on the show your report finds that bias incidents are continuing to rise but which groups specifically are being targeted uh thanks pan unfortunately we're seeing a rise in bias and hate across virtually every demographic group uh we know that the groups with the highest number of bias incidents reported were against the black community and for religious base against the the Jewish Community but literally every group is seeing a rise in bias and hate and I know both as a chief law enforcement officer and as a resident of the state that too many people across our state are living in fear right now simply because of who they are how they look where they're from what language they speak or who they love what factors if any uh is your office able to point to to attribute to this increase well I think there are several reasons and we cite them in the report the first and this is a good thing we've worked really hard in New Jersey under this Administration to increase our Outreach to communities training and to reform our systems of reporting so that people know when they report and we've made it easier for them to do so that we take it seriously and we respond to each and every single report and that's something that everybody in the public should understand there is no piece of information that's too small to report but we also know that bias is on the rise and we're seeing a number of contributing factors whether that's social media or political leaders who are condoning or inciting bias acts certainly since October uh the attacks in Israel and the subsequent conflict have resulted in increased biased activity against Jewish and Muslim residents and we know there are many other factors but bias absolutely is on the rise and that concerns me I think a lot of times we picture these events happening strictly in the public but in fact the report points out that uh the bulk of these incidents are happening in K through 12 schools can you give us some examples sure so I think it's important for everyone to understand right now in New Jersey the place that's the most likely location for a bias crime or a bias incident to be reported is our schools and as a parent and certainly as our chief law enforcement officer that's alarming to me so we've seen a whole range of bias incidents come in for our schools everything from slurs or bullying certainly social media to potentially more serious or violent acts uh and we take each and every one of those seriously but we also need our schools to take it seriously we've issued guidance to our K through 12 and institutions of higher education uh and I've advised them that while this isn't something I'm looking to do if they fail to create a safe environment for our kids if kids can't go to school safely and learn safely and not be targeted because of who they are then that school has potentially violated both state and federal law so they have a legal obligation to provide that safe environment so beyond the guidelines and ensuring that that they follow them what else is the state doing to combat it and I'm thinking about districts like where in Ocean County where Adriana kush's family of course has accused the District of not following up on complaints of bullying not following up on on uh complaints of of other hate crimes that have happened um what is the state doing specifically to combat this uh so we've done and are doing a number of things including targeted trainings for uh officials and community members throughout the state uh we work closely with a number of Partners to identify places that need that extra touch to make sure they understand what their obligations are and also that community members understand how to report incidents again it's very unlikely almost impossible that the first time somebody engages in a biased act that's violent it's their first time ever doing something with bias uh uh involved so what we need to do is ensure that people that people trust us enough to provide that information regardless of how severe they may view the conduct so that we can intervene provide resources provide training sometimes provide mediation to help resolve incidents before they escalate attorney general Matt Platkin on the office's latest bias incident report attorney general thanks so much thank you for having me funding for exploring hate is provided by Charlotte and David AER Support also is provided by the tiger Baron Foundation Nancy and Morris W offen and Josh Weston