LONG ISLAND, N.Y. – A Nassau Community College student admitted to scrawling 110 anti-Semitic messages and symbols in and around the school over perceived slights from the Jewish community, police allege.
The Long Island Herald reports:
According to Nassau County police, Jasskirat Saini, 20, of Plainview, drew two swastikas and the letters “KKK” on an exterior wall on campus; wrote “Heil Hitler” and “Germany” inside a bathroom; and throughout October, drew other swastikas on walls around the east Garden City campus.
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Nassau County police told News 12 the racist graffiti, written with black and blue markers, started in October and continued through this week, including two incidents on Tuesday.
“They scrubbed all the (surveillance) video on the campus, which led them to this particular subject being in proximity to these bias incidents,” acting Nassau police commissioner Thomas Krumpter said.
NCC officials issued a prepared statement about Saini’s arrest Wednesday.
“We are deeply saddened that the alleged perpetrator is a student,” NCC President W. Hubert Keen said. “We will use this unfortunate series of events as an object lesson for our students, faculty and staff.”
Saini was arrested Tuesday and arraigned in Hempstead’s First District Court on 12 counts of aggravated harassment on Wednesday, the Herald reports.
Krumpter said each count carries up to a four year prison sentence.
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“It appears that this bigot was motivated by perceived slights of the Jewish community in his neighborhood in Plainview,” he said.
Krumpter told WABC Nassau County police investigated 57 bias incidents this year – 40 involving graffiti and at least 10 involving Saini.
Overall, he said, bias complaints are down by 6 percent since last year.
Despite fewer reports in Nassau County, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo set up a hotline after the 2016 election to address an alleged “uptick in recent reports of discrimination, bias-motivated threats, harassment and violence,” Cuomo said in a statement.
The Associated Press alleges New York City police are dealing with a 400 percent increase in hate crimes since the election, WABC reports.
“New York serves as a beacon of hope and opportunity for all, and we will continue to stand up to those who seek to spread the politics of division, fear and hate,” the governor said. “This state celebrates our difference because we know that it is the rich fabric of cultures and customs that makes this one of the greatest, most diverse places in the world.”
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