KITSAP/PORT ORCHARD – Police officials in Port Orchard investigate a complaint filed about property destruction and graffiti as a possible instance of an anti-Asian hate crime. This has been the first case filed about Anti-Asian hate crime in Port Orchard.
Throughout the United States, there have been hundreds of cases of Anti-Asian hate crimes. Asian people have been under attack lately after the wake of COVID-19.
According to the Port Orchard Police Department, an incident described as “allegedly racially biased” took place yesterday in the city in the early morning hours. The incident involved the spray painting of “AZN,” which is clearly an abbreviation for Asian, on the victim’s vehicle. The victim’s garage door was also marked up with graffiti.
The Port Orchard Police Department press release said, “While it is still too early to determine if the crime is motivated by hate or racial bias, the Port Orchard Police Department takes all allegations seriously.”
Hate crimes against those of Asian ethnicity have immensely gone up in many big cities since the Coronavirus pandemic started. If we look at the recent reports by law enforcement officials.
Anti-Asian sentiment spread in part after former President Trump referred to the COVID-19 virus as the “Kung flu” and “China virus.” The former president mentioned the origin of COVID-19, and after that, his supporters took to the streets and protested against Asian people.
The Police department of Port Orchard is currently investigating it, and the police department, together with the mayor, has strongly criticized this act of terror. They said that this Anti-Asian hate crime has no place here in the USA and must stop at all costs.
Across the United States, law enforcement agencies are scrambling to better protect Asian communities amid a wave of violence targeting them since lockdowns to cope with the coronavirus pandemic began about a year ago.
A recent report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, showed that while hate crimes overall in the United States had fallen slightly in 2020, crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) had jumped by 145%.