New survey shows hate crimes are severely underreported in Houston area

Study after study shows most Houstonians consider crime the biggest concern when it comes to city policy.

But, a new study from Rice University's Kinder Institute finds hate crimes in our area are severely underreported.

Researchers say one in three Harris County residents have experienced victimization based on race, gender, or other protected status, but most never report it to law enforcement.

Christen Valentine, a Black transgender woman, said she knows what it's like to be judged.

"People look at the trans identity first before they look at me being a human first," she said. "I am somebody who strives to be myself, just like anybody else."

Valentine says she doesn't call the police for help.

"I've had girlfriends call the police and say, 'I'm going through something.' They (police) never showed up. They never showed up. They never came," she explained. "And it was literally those incidents that make you realize, 'Is everybody going to hate us?' So, we're not going to be protected from (anything), even though we pay taxes?"

In 2022, the Houston Police Department reported just 35 hate crime incidents, which researchers with the Kinder Institute believe shows underreporting and a lack of awareness from law enforcement.

"We only hear from about 30% of our respondents that they had reported their incident to a police officer or police or the sheriff's department," Dan Potter, the Kinder Institute Director of the Houston Population Research Center, explained.

The new Kinder Institute report shows most hate crime victims in our area don't report crimes because they don't believe police will address them.

"This is not just about a singular victim. This is about attacking a community," Potter said. "This is about trying to demean and disempower an entire group of people."

"Sometimes, I feel like we have allyship, but a lot of times, I feel like we don't. It's only when it's popular - when it's November, but other than that, no," Valentine explained.

The authors of the Kinder Institute report recommend that police officers work directly with community leaders.

Their studies showed victims usually reported these crimes to friends or family members instead of the police.

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