Here’s what police are doing after recent spate of hate crimes

Three recent incidents targeting religious groups in Waterloo Region is highlighting the efforts by regional police to combat hate-motivated crime.

Back on March 22, police were notified after hate-filled and violent messages were posted to the website of Hillel Ontario, a Jewish student organization. That led to the arrest of a 17-year-old who charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

The same day the youth was arrested, a Hindu temple in Kitchener and another in Cambridge were targeted by thieves. The break-in attempts were unsuccessful, but the building did sustain some damage. Those incidents remain under investigation.

Regional Police Chief, Mark Crowell was a guest on The Mike Farwell Show and said the data shows hate-motived crimes are on the rise.

“When we look at a five-year trend, we’ve seen right across Canada hate-motivated crimes and hate-motivated incidents have been on the increase,” said Crowell. “About half of those are violent offences in nature, so assaults, threats, arsons, those types of things. Then about 40 per cent are mischief property damage.”

A report, recently presented to the Regional Police Services Board reported a decline in hate-motivated police-reported crimes in 2024, but as Crowell mentioned, a year-over-year look shows hate crimes on the rise. It remains to be seen if last year was an outlier at the start of a new trend.

Crowell said when looking deeper at the numbers, hate-motivated crime based on religion tends to target one faith in particular.

“Locally and across Canada, year-over-year we’re seeing about 70 per cent of religiously targeted hate crimes and motivated incidents target the Jewish population.”

Crowell calls said that is gravely concerning to the local Jewish population.

In an effort to address growing incidents of hate-based crime, regional police have been actively engaging with the public.

“On a weekly basis, we are hosting a forum for community leaders and organizations to join us in conversations about hate in Waterloo Region,” said Crowell. “We’re hosting a hate crimes conference coming up in the middle of April as well. But more importantly, it comes down to building relationships.”

The chief said that when police can build trust in a community, crimes are more frequently reported, giving officers the chance to investigate and hopefully prevent further crimes from occurring.