(The Center Square) – The Oregon Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit released its Bias Crimes (2023) Report this week, revealing that most complaints sent to the state’s Bias Response Hotline are not about crimes.
The hotline is increasing in popularity, as it saw a 229% increase in reported incidents from 2020 to 2023, plus a 222% increase in reported bias crimes and non-criminal bias incidents, from 910 in 2020 to 2,932 in 2023, according to a press release from the Oregon Department of Justice.
Yet, the overwhelming majority of the incidents reported last year were not crimes, the data revealed. About 22% of the reports sent to the hotline were bias crimes. Of those reports, 12% were felony bias crimes, while the rest were misdemeanors.
The hotline launched in 2020. It offers an alternative way for the state’s residents to report crimes rather than going directly to law enforcement. It is confidential and provides people help connecting to various community resources, the release said.