Reported Bias Crime Statistics

Launch Dashboard

Introduction to Bias / Hate Crime Statistics

Bias crime data

Bias crime data is collected as part of the reporting requirements for the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Bias crimes are reported when an investigation reveals that an offender’s actions were motivated, in part or in whole, by a bias against disability, gender, gender identity, race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, or sexual orientation. When a crime is reported to the Portland Police Bureau and there is suspicion of a bias motivation, the case is assigned to the Bias Crime Detail for review. The detective assigned to the case investigates the incident and determines if the crime was motivated by an offender’s bias. Up to five types of bias can be reported per incident. The bias type must fall within at least one of the NIBRS bias type categories to be reported and the crime must be a NIBRS Group A offense. More information on NIBRS offenses can be found in PPB's Introduction to NIBRS Offenses guide. Additionally, bias incidents are tracked per Senate Bill 577. These are tracked starting in March 2020.

The bias crime dashboard and open data includes NIBRS bias crimes reported to the Portland Police Bureau. The dashboard does not include crimes that go unreported by the public and crimes that are reported to other agencies. Graffiti, which may include instances of hate speech, is reported to the Graffiti Abatement Program housed in the Office of Community and Civic Life (formerly the Office of Neighborhood Involvement). Incidents without a police report are not investigated by the Bias Crime Detail, therefore offender motivation and other details cannot be determined.

Motivation

An element of hate speech can occur in crimes that are both motivated by bias and those that are not. Hate speech is intended to insult, offend, or intimidate based on the attributes of an individual or a group (including disability, gender, gender identity, race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, or sexual orientation). The presence of hate speech alone does not make an incident a bias crime. 

Additionally, crimes that are both motivated by bias and those that are not may involve victims and offenders of different protected classes. These differences alone do not make an incident a bias crime.

NIBRS Bias Types

Incidents that are investigated and are confirmed to have a bias motivation are categorized with the appropriate bias category. Incidents can have more than one bias motivation.

• Disability: Anti-Mental Disability or Anti-Physical Disability
• Gender: Anti-Female or Anti-Male
• Gender Identity: Anti-Gender Non-Conforming or Anti-Transgender
• Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry: Anti-American Indian or Alaska Native; Anti-Arab; Anti-Asian; Anti-Black or African American; Anti-Hispanic or Latino; Anti-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; Anti-White; Anti-Other Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry; or Anti-Multiple Races (Mixed Group)
• Religion: Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism; Anti-Buddhist; Anti-Catholic; Anti-Eastern Orthodox (Greek, Russian, etc.); Anti-Hindu; Anti-Islam (Muslim); Anti-Jehovah's Witness; Anti-Jewish; Anti-Mormon; Anti-Protestant; Anti-Sikh; Anti-Other Christian; Anti-Other Religion; or Anti-Multiple Religions (Mixed Group).
• Sexual Orientation: Anti-Bisexual; Anti-Gay (Male); Anti-Heterosexual; Anti-Lesbian (Female); or Anti-Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (Mixed Group).

Incidents where the investigation into a bias motivation is inconclusive are reported as unknown bias.  Incidents where there are not enough facts to confirm bias motivation by the offender are reported as no bias. 

Location Type

The location type represents the functional location of where the incident took place which may differ from the geographic location. For example, when a school building is being used for church services and a bias crime occurs, the location type should be reported as a church not a school. NIBRS has fifty-eight potential location types, several of which are present in the current dataset, including:

Business

• Bar/Nightclub: Establishments primarily for entertainment, dancing, and the consumption of beverages
• Convenience Store: Establishments primarily for convenience shopping
• Restaurant: Any commercial establishment that serves meals or refreshments; cafeterias

Place of Worship

• Church/Synagogue/Temple/Mosque: Building for public religious activities, meeting, and worship

Public Space

• Air/Bus/Train Terminal: Airports, bus, boat, ferry, or train stations and terminals
• Parking/Drop Lot/Garage: Areas primarily used for parking motorized vehicles and/or trailers; usually, but not always, commercial in nature (does not include garages attached or detached from a residence)
• Street/Highway/Road/Alley/Sidewalk: Open public ways for the passage of vehicles, people, and animals.

Residence

• Residence/Home: Apartments; condominiums; townhomes; nursing homes; residential driveways; residential yards; extended/continuous care facilities 

Victim Type

The victim type indicates if the victim of the bias crime was a person (individual) or institution (religious organization, business, etc.). Bias crimes that are person offenses require the victim to be an individual. 

Victim and Offender Demographics

The demographics, including race, gender, and age, of victims who are individuals (people) are presented in the report. The offender demographics are also included when the offender is identified. Partial demographic information may be available for unidentified suspects if a description of the suspect was available. If incomplete or no suspect information was available, the offender demographics will be listed as unknown.  

Victim/Offender Relationship

The Victim/Offender Relationship fields categorize the extent to which the victim knows the offender. Categories are determined after an investigation has been conducted and are subsequently reviewed by analysts for further accuracy. The bias crime report and dataset currently include victim/offender relationships that fall in two NIBRS categories: ‘Known to Victim – Not Family’ or ‘Not Known By Victim’. These categories are further sub-divided into more descriptive categories.

Known to Victim – Not Family:

• Victim Was Acquaintance: offender was casually known to victim
• Victim Was Neighbor: offender lived in the vicinity of the victim
• Victim Was Otherwise Known: offender is known to victim but does not fit into other categories

Not Known by Victim:

• Victim Was Stranger: victim did not know offender
• Relationship Unknown: relationship between the victim and offender has not been established (includes offenders who have not been identified)

Offender Status

The offender status field provides a count of offenders who are unknown (no suspect information available), unidentified suspects (some information but no positive identification), or identified. The status also indicates whether or not the offender has been arrested for the bias crime. In the State of Oregon, depending on the severity of the offenses committed with a bias motivation and other circumstances surrounding the crime, bias crime offenders are charged with either the Class C Felony of Bias Crime in the First Degree (ORS 166.165) or the Class A Misdemeanor of Bias Crime in the Second Degree (ORS 166.155). Senate Bill 577 relating to most recent law can be found here. All arrested offenders are identified.

Dashboard Walkthrough

The Reported Bias Crime Statistics dashboard is an interactive data visualization of incidents reported to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) which meet the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) guidelines for bias motivation. All cases flagged for potential bias motivation are reviewed by a PPB detective specifically assigned to investigate bias crimes.

The dashboard is updated following a review by the bias crime detective for each quarter.

Technical Specifications

The report has been customized to work on personal computers, smart phones and tablets.  For the best experience, it is recommended you use a desktop or laptop computer.

No additional software is required to use this report. The report runs completely within the internet browser using JavaScript. Most modern browsers automatically activate JavaScript; however, it can be turned off based on the security settings of the computer.  For more information on activating JavaScript, refer to the browser’s help section or click here for help on Windows computers or click here for help on Apple computers.

Visualization Walkthrough

The Reported Bias Crime Statisticsdashboard is an interactive data visualization. This interactivity allows users to filter the information based on the questions they are hoping to answer using this dataset.

Many of the visualizations and figures in the dashboard can be used as filters by clicking within the charts and graphs. Multiple selections within the same element can be made by holding down the 'Ctrl' button and selecting all relevant values or click and dragging your mouse cursor within the visualization. Multiple filters can be activated simultaneously by clicking among the different charts and graphs in the dashboard.

Several icons are placed throughout the dashboard to provide additional context and direction. Hover over the icon (or click if using a mobile device) for a pop-up to appear with additional text regarding the dashboard.

An overview of the pre-built filters and an explanation of the visualizations are included below.

I. Reported Bias/Hate Crime Statistics

The homepage (and first tab) of the dashboard consists of two sections: (a) the count of all reported bias incidents by review outcome and (b) the bias / hate crime review process.

a. Incident Count by Year

The stacked bar graph visualizes the current case status for all reported bias/hate incidents that have been reviewed by the assigned detective. Bias Incidents (instances in which bias occurred, but no crime occurred) began to be recorded in March 2020.

II. Confirmed Bias Crime & Bias Incident Statistics

The second tab of the data dashboard contains detailed information on all investigated bias crime incidents where it was confirmed that identified bias was a motivation for the crime or a bias incident occurred (without any crime).

a. Date Filter

The Date Filter is a comprehensive list of all time periods (by Quarter/Year) from which data is available. Click the dropdown and select, or unselect, the boxes to include, or not, in the subsequent visualizations. Click the "Apply" button at the bottom of the filter to save your selections. All visuals will update accordingly, with the text box next to Report Date Quarter displaying the selected date range. The time period will update based on filter selections.

b. Instances by Quarter

The first bar chart on this tab depicts the number of reported bias crimes that meet the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) standards for bias motivation and SB 577's standard for bias incidents. This is a count of incidents only, which may include multiple offenses or victims (which are depicted in subsequent visualizations). 

Clicking on any of the bars or headers will filter the rest of the dashboard for that quarter and bias incident/crime, similar to the Date Filter above it. Several time periods can be chosen by clicking and dragging over multiple items or by holding the Ctrl button while clicking. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard. Click the selection(s) again to deselect.

c. Offense Type

The horizontal bar chart depicts what primary offense is associated with confirmed bias/hate crime incidents. For more information on how offenses are defined and classified, view PPB's Introduction to NIBRS Offenses guide. 

Click on one (or more) offense types to filter the rest of the visualization by reported offense. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

d. Location Type

The above bar chart depicts the number of reported bias crimes and/or incidents by location type.

Click on one (or more) location categories or specific location types to filter the rest of the visualization by location type. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

e. Bias Category and Type

The bar chart lists the broad bias crime categories and specific subtypes that were reported for each confirmed bias crime and/or incident. For a full list of categories and types defined by NIBRS, hover or click on the info icon or visit the Introduction to Bias / Hate Crime Statistics. There is also a dropdown menu that can be used to count the categories by Incident (bias crimes that occur at the same place and time regardless of offense or victim count), Offense (multiple offenses can occur per incident) and Victim. 

Click on one (or more) bias categories or specific bias types to filter the rest of the visualization. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

f. Victim Type and Average Number of Offenders per Case

The Victim Type bar chart represents whether the victim was a person or business. Individuals include person-to-person contacts and residences. Businesses are buildings used for commercial or religious purposes. Victims are counted by incident for this visual, so cases with an 'Individual' victim type may have multiple persons associated.

Click on one (or more) victim type to filter the rest of the visualization. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

The Average Number of Offenders Per Case calculation shows how many known offenders are associated with confirmed bias cases. Offender counts are only included when an offender or offenders have been identified. The figure will update when filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

g. Victim and Offender Demographics

Demographics for both victims and offenders are listed in this section of the dashboard. Each is divided into graphs by race, gender, and age ranges. Only races, genders, or ages in which individuals have been victims or offenders of reported bias crimes are listed, therefore not all categories are represented. Demographics are also only recorded for individuals, not religious organizations or businesses, so victim demographics will be blank when those filters are applied.

Click on one (or more) of the demographic categories to filter the rest of the visualization. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

h. Victim/Offender Relationship

This chart depicts how and if the offender was known by the victim. The relationship is only recorded for victims that are individuals, not religious organizations or businesses, so victim/offender relationship will be blank when those filters are applied. The chart is divided into two broad categories (known and unknown) and then further sub-divided into specific categories. For a definition of the specific categories hover over the bars for a pop-up which also lists the actual counts for each category.

Click on one (or more) of the relationship categories to filter the rest of the visualization. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

h. Offender Status

The Offender Status bar chart shows whether an offender has been arrested. For additional information and definitions related to each category, hover your mouse cursor over the bars.

Click on one (or more) of the relationship categories to filter the rest of the visualization. The graph will also update when other filters are applied throughout the dashboard.

i. Toolbar  

The toolbar, located at the bottom of the visualization, contains several buttons that assist in the analysis of the data.

Tableau is the name of the software used to create this report visualization.

The Left and Right buttons become active when the above filters are applied to the report and act as "Undo" and "Redo", respectively. They operate just like the Undo and Redo buttons in other programs such as Microsoft Word. Do not use your browser's back and forward buttons to undo redo filters.

The “Reset” button, depicted as a left arrow pointing at a straight line, reverts all filters back to their original setting when you first visited the page. This is a great way to start with a “clean slate” after clicking several filters.

The "Share Button" is three circles connected by three straight lines. This button creates a link you can share via email or other social media platforms. If you use the filters to adjust the view, you can also share a direct link with the filters you selected.

The downward arrow connected to a rectangle allows the user to save different versions of the visualization.

• "Image" creates a .png of the report with all of the selected filters.
• “PDF” allows users to export the report, with all of the filters you set, as a PDF. The options dialogue allows custom scaling and paper size options. When choosing to export as PDF, make sure to keep the layout as portrait and content as “this dashboard.”
• “Get the App” takes you to a download page to acquire a Free Trial of Tableau Desktop.  This is not necessary, or recommended, to fully analyze and view the report.

Download Data

The Portland Police Bureau is a proud member of the Police Data Initiative. Open Data provides an opportunity to improve the relationship between the community and the PPB by increasing transparency, building community trust, and strengthening accountability.

The Download Open Data tab of this report was custom-built to meet the Bureau’s Open Data goals. The dataset includes one row of data per instance per victim and suspect. 

To download the data click on the link provided and follow the on-screen prompts (note: it may take 30-45 seconds for the dataset to compile).

Metadata for Bias Crime Open Data