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Reported Texas Hate Crimes Dropped in 2016

Northeast texas had few bias-related crimes reported in 2016.

While national numbers for hate crime were up in 2016, numbers for Texas showed a slight drop.

That’s according to the latest FBI  Uniform Crime Report on hate crimes, which shows a 4.6 percent uptick in bias-related crimes last year, nationwide.

Texas reported 178 total hate crimes in 2016. That’s a dip from 191 such incidents in 2015.

Regional and local statistics were broken down further, but only three cities in the KETR listening area had any crimes to report.

One incident based on race or ethnicity was reported in each Gilmer and Rockwall. McKinney reported seven hate crimes in 2016. Five were based on ethnicity or race and two on sexual orientation. No hate crimes based on religion, disability, gender, or gender identity were reported in any of those towns.

Scott Morgan has been an award-winning journalist since 2001. His work has appeared in several newspapers and magazines as well as online. He has also been an editor, freelancer, speaker, writing teacher, author, and podcaster.