On Sunday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about a change in the way New York City reports hate crime data.
The article reports:
Hateful antisemitic incidents skyrocketed 182% across the Big Apple in January compared to a year ago, even as other crimes such as murders and shootings reached record lows, according to NYPD data.
There were 31 hate crimes against Jewish people reported in the first month of 2026, which is 20 more than the same time last year, the startling stats show.
…The number of bias incidents investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force increased by 152% (58 vs. 23). Specifically, anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by 182% (31 vs. 11), which accounted for more than half of all the hate crime incidents in January.
So what is the city’s response? They are changing the way they report the crimes.
The article reports:
It was yet more proof that Mamdani’s anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, antisemitic rhetoric from his days as a New York Assemblyman and then candidate for mayor had emboldened like-minded individuals in the city at a time tensions between Jewish critics and the Democratic Socialist mayor were already rising.
Fast forward a month, and the NYPD has conveniently announced that they are now going to report on hate crime stats differently:
Previously, the department reported alleged hate crimes that were still under review. The NYPD will now report hate crimes that have been investigated and officially confirmed as such by the Hate Crimes Task Force. This updated methodology will provide a more accurate representation of confirmed hate crimes in the city. For the month of February, the NYPD recorded 38 hate crimes.
It’s a move that was immediately criticized by hate crime experts who say the new way of reporting the data could skew the true picture:
“It would be erroneous to consider that’s a drop in hate crimes,” said Frank Pezzella, a professor at John Jay College and author of the book “The Measurement of Hate Crimes in America.”
When you don’t like the numbers, change the way you report them!