Pittsburgh Leaders Say Hate Crimes Aren't Happening In The City As Much As People Think

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh city leaders educated residents on how to recognize and report hate groups and extremism in their neighborhoods Wednesday night. It was part of a city wide public safety meeting.

Pittsburgh Police told KDKA News, they handle about 20 incidents a year that result in charges against someone for some type of racial intimidation.

That's compared to the more than 7,000 hate crime incidents reported to the FBI nationally.

"We have not seen an uptick in those like it has been reported for hate crimes nationwide, at least in the City of Pittsburgh it has been pretty steady over the last 10 years, said Dr. Heath Johnson, Crime Analysis Coordinator with Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

City leaders say hate crimes aren't happening in Pittsburgh as much as people think.

Jay Gilmer with the Department of Public safety says the difference is that more people are speaking up and reporting crimes than they ever have before.

"I mean there is speech, there are symbols, there are people who say and do crazy things, we don't believe there is a big problem here, no bigger than it's been in the past. The way we report it is different, the way we look at it might be a little different," said Gilmer.