Hate / Bias Crimes

Stop The Hate

The Wilton Manors Police Department is committed to letting our community know that hate and bias motivated crimes will not be tolerated.  As such, reporting and investigating these hate crimes is a top priority for our agency. Chief Gary Blocker states, “Our Police Department remains passionate in our endeavor to promote a safe Island City that one day can be free of hatred and bias. Our agency stands ready to eradicate hate through our commitment to aggressively investigate crimes predicated on bias.”

We encourage anyone in our community who has been the possible victim of a hate crime (regardless of the nature or type of incident) to come forward, report the crime or incident, and to work with us to bring the perpetrators to justice. Should you experience an incident of this nature and need emergency assistance please call 9-1-1 otherwise call 954-764-HELP (4357) for non-emergencies.  Another source to report hate crimes is directly to the Broward County State Attorney's Office Hate Crimes Unit.  For more information about their Hate Crimes Unit, or to file a report with them, please visit their website by clicking HERE

There are certain definitions and laws that help define hate crimes.  For the purposes of collecting statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime - and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.  Federal Laws enacted by Congress providing identification and prosecution of Hate Crimes include:

The Wilton Manors Police Department fully endorses the Florida Anti-Defamation League in their efforts with the Florida Hate Crime Coalition in support of the 2020 Hate Crime Bill.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (F.S.S. 775.085 & F.S.S. 877.19) defines Hate Crime as a committed or attempted criminal act by any person or group of persons against a person or the property of another person or group, which in any way constitutes an expression of hatred toward the victim because of his/her personal characteristics.  Personal characteristics include: 

  • race/color
  • gender/gender identity
  • religion
  • ethnicity/ancestry/national origin
  • sexual orientation
  • advanced age
  • mental/physical disability
  • homeless status

These are some steps you can take if you have been the victim of a Hate Crime:

We are excited to join other law enforcement agencies around the U.S. that have accepted the Police Foundation’s Police Data Initiative and look forward to sharing lessons learned and best practices with them through this process. Our participation in the Police Foundation’s Police Data Initiative will be ongoing and will help demonstrate transparency and  build trust and confidence within the community. 

By participating in this Initiative, we are committing to making data available in an open and transparent way so that our community and everyone in our agency continues to know that the issue of hate crime is taken seriously and that we are holding ourselves accountable for reporting and investigating these crimes. 

 The Police Data Initiative was launched in 2015 and continues today, with 141 U.S. law enforcement agencies participating. For more information on the Initiative or to view the open hate crime data released through this Challenge, visit www.policedatainitiative.org/datasets.

For more details about the Hate Crimes reported in the State of Florida see the Florida Attorney General's Civil Rights website

            Wilton Manors Reported Hate / Bias related incidents 2011 - Present*

Case Number Date Offense Type Num of Persons Race Sex Location Type Hate Target
43-2211-011911 11/22/2022 Criminal Mischief City of Wilton Manors 0 n/a n/a Roadway Anti-LGBTQ+
43-1807-009553 07/23/2018 Battery Individual 1 White Male Business Anti-LGBTQ+
43-1709-012716 09/19/2017 Criminal Mischief City of Wilton Manors 0 n/a n/a Bridge Anti-Jewish
43-1708-011526 08/22/2017 Info/Property Damage Individual 1 White Male Residence Anti-Black, 
Anti-Jewish, Anti-Gay
43-1705-007143 05/24/2017 Criminal Mischief Individual 1 White Male Residence Anti-Jewish
12-02692 05/01/2012 Threats Individual 1 White Male Residence Anti-LGBTQ+
12-05189 08/20/2012 Threats Individual 1 White Male Residence Anti-LGBTQ+
11-07976 12/14/2011 Burglary/Battery Individual 1 Black Male Residence Anti-Black
11-00344 01/14/2011 Criminal Mischief Individual 1 Black Male Residence Anti-Black
*Data is current as of