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May 22, 2020 10:42 PM -
Anti-Asian racism has spiked since COVID-19 forced B.C. into a state of emergency in March and Vancouver police say that has driven an increase in overall hate crimes.
Howard Chow, the department's deputy chief constable for operations, says investigators have opened 29 files involving anti-Asian racism since March, compared with four over the same time period last year.
Chow says there have been 77 hate-associated police files in 2020 and another 10 active files from April and May that could later be classified as hate crimes.
Deputy Chief Const. Laurence Rankin says the alleged offences range from racial slurs and vandalism to assault.
He says suspects have been identified in six cases, although no charges have been laid yet.
The remainder of the files have concluded due to lack of evidence or suspects, but Rankin says they could be reopened in future.
