In the past year, the number of reported hate crimes in Vancouver has doubled to 120, up from 60 in 2006. This stems partly from a rise in hate crimes, Fanning said, but also reflects that police are better trained to identify them.
Swastikas scrawled on synagogues, insults and fists thrown at gay men in Stanley Park and, most recently, the unprovoked beating of an elderly Chinese man on a Vancouver city bus illustrate what police categorize as hate crimes.
However, some of the more subtle hate crimes have gone undetected because civilian officers weren’t aware of the 200 or so symbols connected with hate graffiti or verbal slurs fired at visible minorities, said Vancouver police Det. Tim Houchen.
“If you saw a swastika, what would you think? If you saw (the number) ’88,’ what would you think?” asked Houchen, who heads the Vancouver police’s diversity policing unit.
The number 8,814 carries the same meaning as the swastika, but not many people know it, he explained.
