Maryland law enforcement recorded 884 hate-bias incidents in 2025, down 4.3% from the previous year, but the decline did not extend across every category. The state’s annual report, dated October 1 and announced by the Commission on Civil Rights October 2, says 303 reports were verified after investigation. These are historical reporting figures, not a count of convictions or a measure of incidents occurring this month.
WTOP’s October 18 coverage, republished by Maryland Matters, highlights the different directions beneath the statewide total. Anti-Black bias remained the most frequently reported motivation, followed by anti-Jewish bias. Reports involving anti-Hispanic or Latino motivation increased from 39 to 66, a 69.2% rise, even as religious-bias and sexual-orientation categories declined.
The civil-rights commission’s summary identifies schools as an important setting: K–12 locations accounted for 24.1% of statewide incidents, with 77.5% of school-related reports in Montgomery County. The state counted 972 reported motivations, unchanged from 2024, because an incident can involve multiple motivations. Those figures concern reports, not the share of all students experiencing hostility. They also should not be read as a simple ranking of community safety.
What the numbers can establish
The report, produced by the Maryland Department of State Police and Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, combines criminal and noncriminal incidents reported to police. Its methodology distinguishes verified, inconclusive and unfounded classifications. Verification means an investigation supports a bias motivation; it does not mean a court has convicted someone.
The methodology section also says the analysis uses information submitted by July 1, 2026. Later submissions from 2025 will appear in the next report. Events never reported to law enforcement are outside this dataset. It further notes a change to Montgomery County’s threshold for reporting school incidents to police. These qualifications limit comparisons across places and years.
Criminal reports and support services differ
The attorney general’s guidance distinguishes noncriminal hostility motivated by a protected characteristic from criminal conduct such as bias-motivated assault, vandalism or threats. Suspected crimes should be reported directly to law enforcement; immediate danger calls for 911. A support-service report is not a substitute for a criminal investigation.
Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office also announced a transition away from its former hotline and online reporting portal, which it said would close September 30. Its September announcement scheduled a United Way support pilot for October 15 in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties and Baltimore City, with broader expansion planned later. That announcement should not be mistaken for confirmation of statewide availability.
For officials and residents, the report’s central message is therefore qualified: reported incidents fell overall, while some motivations increased. Assessing progress requires attention to reporting practices, investigative classifications and access to appropriate help, rather than treating one statewide percentage as a complete account of hate-related harm.
