The FBI in Pittsburgh is launching a new campaign to encourage people to report hate crimes.
New advertisements will appear on public transit, in newspapers and on social media with instructions on how to report hate crimes to the FBI.
Special Agent Tim Swanson says hate crimes are underreported nationwide, and a variety of reasons could be to blame.
"People think that if they report their hate crime for their incident to law enforcement than nothing will get done," he said. "There could be a a language barrier we believe would get in the way of them reporting. They may be embarrassed about their particular incident and don't want to bring it anymore attention. They just may not know that what happened to them was a hate crime."
Along with public outreach, Swanson says they're reaching out to local law enforcement to strengthen their relationship with them when it comes to reporting hate crimes.
Oftentimes, local law enforcement doesn't report hate crimes to the FBI.
"Maybe there's not a concurrent state or local statute or ordinance that would cover that particular incident or classify it as a hate crime," he said. "So, there'd be no reason to report it to the FBI because they may not think they have anything locally, and they would assume that the FBI doesn't either. However, the federal statutes that cover hate crimes, at least here in Pennsylvania, cover a broader category of groups, but also a broader category of activities than the Pennsylvania ethnic intimidation statute covers."
If you see or are a victim of a hate crime, call 9-1-1 first, then contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or the FBI Pittsburgh at (412) 432-4000 or submit a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov. Tips can remain anonymous and can be made in an individual’s native language.