Maryland State Police: Hate crimes reports up by over 100

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — - Maryland State Police say reports of hate crimes had increased by more than 100 from 2016 to 2017.

The Capital Gazette cites the newly released numbers from State Police as saying there were 398 reports of hate crimes or bias incidents in 2017 in Maryland compared to 295 in 2016.

The increase was mostly from more densely-populated regions as Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties each had more reported hate crimes.

Anne Arundel County police spokesman Marc Limansky tells the newspaper in its Monday report that the numbers probably under-represent as the State Police report only outlines hate crimes reported to local police departments.

Black people were the most common target in the incidents as 177 of the 398 reports involved black victims.