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Seattle police say hate crimes up nearly 40 percent

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SEATTLE — Seattle police say reports of hate crimes across the city are up nearly 40 percent in the first half of 2017.

According to a report released Tuesday, Seattle police investigated 178 bias crimes so far this year – up 128 compared to the same time last year.

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Of those crimes this year, police solved about 39 percent.

Thirteen cases are still open.

Seattle police suggests the increase could be attributed to more victims feeling comfortable reporting hate crimes, according to the Seattle Times.

The report specifically mentions outreach to refugee and immigrant populations.

Their goal is to prevent incidents like one in January at a Seattle IHOP, in which two Jewish men from Israel say they had a gun pulled on them for speaking Hebrew.

SPD says it's distributed information in 18 different languages describing how to report a crime.