On Sunday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a state wide increase in efforts to protect vulnerable communities from hate crimes through boosted monitoring on social media and in person and through community outreach by police across the state, including from the state’s counter terrorism unit. “I have directed the New York State Police to ramp up monitoring and increase support for communities that are potential targets of hate crimes,” said Gov. Hochul in a statement.
The announcement comes a day after a 22-year-old gunman killed 5 and injured 25 at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and an arrest on Saturday by MTA Police, State Police, the NYPD and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force thwarting the plan of two armed men in Manhattan who reportedly planned to attack local jewish communities. After a racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo earlier this year left 10 people dead, Gov. Hochul announced to increase state resources for combating hate crimes and domestic terrorism, including the establishment of a state run domestic extremism tracking unit.