Hate Crime: At the federal level, a crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.

Hate crimes include threats, physical assaults and vandalism.

How to report a hate crime

Local police are committed to making their communities safe for everyone, so please report a hate crime if you are a victim or witness:

Assess urgency: be sure you and those around you are safe.

• Call 911 if you need immediate help.
• Call 311 if there is no immediate danger.

The police should be notified whenever there is a crime committed, such as a physical assault or vandalism.

In addition, when possible, report the incident to someone in leadership at the location where the event took place.

In addition, log on the ADL Incident Tracker.

Be prepared to provide the following information:

• On (date and time), the following incident took place. Be precise, detailed and factual.
• If the incident takes place on social media, take a screenshot of the antisemitic text, making sure that the screen name of the post is visible.

Bias or Hate Incident: Acts of prejudice that are not crimes and do not involve violence, threats, or property damage. Hate incidents are non-criminal acts that may serve as precursors to more dangerous hate crimes and need to be addressed before they escalate.

How to report a hate incident

If you have experienced or witnessed a hate incident that may not be considered a crime in the Criminal Code, it is important that you still report it to law enforcement.

• Call 311.
• Complete the ADL Incident Tracker.

In Chicago, the CHI vs Hate ordinance added the option for victims to report hate to 311 and ask for help from a civilian when a police response is not needed. JUF advocated for the passage of the ordinance, which was adopted by the Chicago City Council in December 2023. The ordinance also allows residents to access translators who speak more than 100 languages, making sure Chicago residents can ask for help in their preferred language without any barriers for access.

It is important to report these incidents to:

• Empower every member of our community to feel that what they are experiencing is not going to go unnoticed.
• Allow us to have a better understanding of what the current situation is in our community. Gives us more tools to talk to our law enforcement partners, elected officials and other faith partners.
• Give us a better chance to apply for security grants. Security grants require a chronology of incidents. Having better data gives us a better chance to obtain those grants.