KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A new U.S. Justice Department task force on hate crimes is holding a public conference in Kansas City.
The Kansas City Star reports (http://bit.ly/17TEhP5 ) the program will be held Jan. 13 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and seeks to expand community awareness of hate crimes.
Michael Kaste, special agent in charge of the FBI's local office, said 67 hate crimes were reported in the Kansas City area last year. Most of those reports were for racially biased crimes. FBI statistics show that nearly 6,000 hate crimes were reported nationwide last year.
Kaste says even though hate crime reports have remained relatively consistent over the years, any such crimes are "intolerable."
The conference is free and open to the public.