Law Enforcement and Lakewood Vaad urge: Report It

In the wake of attacks in Pittsburgh, Poway, the rise of organized local hate groups, and major increases in assaults on Jews, the Lakewood Vaad shares a plea from Law Enforcement.

If you are harassed because of your religion, that is serious and a bias incident – call the police immediately.

The penalties for bias harassment are greater than for simple harassment / simple assault. Harassment is a criminal act: racial slurs/hate speech, anti-Semitic graffiti or fliers, being asked to leave a public place because you are Jewish, threats, objects thrown at you, being shoved while in line are all criminal acts -report them. Every time.

Verbal harassment – if someone harasses you for your religion that is a serious crime.
If someone yells at you from a car – get their license plate.
If someone throws something at you from car, that is assault with a deadly weapon.
If a driver veers a vehicle at you to scare you – that’s attempted assault with a deadly weapon.

•If you see, hear or experience a bias incident report it to 911 immediately.

If you see a flier with hate speech, don’t touch it, call the police immediately and wait for them.
If you find a threat of violence on social media, (videos, comments, etc) download / save the screenshot or video to preserve the evidence and report it.
If you are not sure whether an incident is bias / harassment,report it.
Don’t delay – immediate reports increase the chance that police will catch a perpetrator.
Even if you called LCSW or Hatzalah – it is crucial to still report all incidents to the authorities.

Make it easy for the police to help us stay safe.

For online threats, you can call the Counterterrorism Watch Desk at 1-866-4-SAFE-NJ. The CT Watch Desk is staffed 24/7 – you are not required to provide your name.

Mr. Eli Tabak and Mr. Eli Liberman, speaking on behalf of the Tzibur,  pointed out that, “There are 30 law enforcement officials in Ocean County who specifically deal with bias crimes.  Please keep in mind that not every incident may lead to a public result, but every report helps law enforcement build a case. Help them help us – keep reporting.”

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3 COMMENTS

  1. LPD direct number is
    732-363-0200.
    Please call us to report first. We have officers patrolling all over town and have a better chance of apprehension to crimes in progress if you call us right away 24/7.
    Thank you and together we can combat these senseless crimes.

  2. Why is it a crime to verbally harass someone. What happened to freedom of speech?
    (PS I’m Jewish, not asking out of hate, just asking out of curiosity)

    • Freedom of speech doesn’t allow for everything. It has its limits

      You may not yell fire in a public place because of freedom of speech.

      There are many laws about verbal harassment.

Comments are closed.