Massachusetts state officials have developed a new online portal designed to make it easier for the commonwealth’s law enforcement agencies to report hate crimes and hate-based incidents, including antisemitism.
The new portal was announced during the state’s seventh annual Faith-Based Organizations Safety and Security Seminar, which brought together more than 400 people.
“Faith-based organizations and nonprofits are on the front lines of caring for people in moments of need, and they deserve to do that work free from fear and intimidation,” stated Gina Kwon, the state’s secretary of public safety and security.
The new portal is designed to make it easier to report incidents, standardize the data and allow analysts to quickly discover statewide trends.
“Faith-based organizations play an enormous role in supporting those in need—both from their congregations and the community at large,” Kim Driscoll, the commonwealth’s lieutenant governor, stated. “As their partners in state government, we need to do everything we can to ensure they have the safety and security resources to do their work free from all forms of fear and hate.”
The new tool comes amid increasing antisemitism in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Antisemitic hate crimes increased by 20.5% in Massachusetts in 2024, passing anti-Black incidents for the first time since the state began tracking such statistics in 1991.
The state police said that the portal is designed to track all hate crimes.
“The portal was developed to streamline incident reporting, regardless of the perpetrator’s motivation,” Tim McGuirk, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, told JNS.
The state has provided $15.3 million in federal and state funding for security for nonprofits this year.
“Ensuring the safety of faith-based organizations is critical to the security of our state and communities,” stated Kevin Stanton, executive director of the state’s grants and research office.
“We consistently hear from our grant recipients how these funds have made their staff, members and visitors feel safer and more at ease,” he said. “These grants are one tool we have available to protect faith-based organizations and other nonprofits from threats and violence.”
