The prevalence of hate crimes in Utah and where they are happening is coming into sharper focus as state officials compile more uniform data that follows a federal reporting standard.
With the first full year of data collected in the National Incident Based Reporting System, the Utah Department of Public Safety reported Thursday that it had verified the occurrence of 96 hate crimes in the state in 2021.
State Bureau of Criminal Identification personnel analyze raw data reported by local law enforcement agencies to arrive at the verified total, Mandy Biesinger, BCI field services supervisor, said in an interview.
“We work with the agencies to confirm that everything is accurate,” she said. For instance, if credit card fraud is listed as the type of hate bias crime, it’s usually a case of a mistakenly checked box when an agency submits its data.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.