Further investigation by Sarnia police suggests a disparaging MacLean's Magazine article is not a true reflection of the incidence of hate crimes in the city.
MacLean's reported earlier this month that the number of incidents in Sarnia increased from 9.5 per 100,000 people in 2016 to 16.1 in 2017.
Sarnia's population was about 72,000 in 2016.
City police have determined that in 2016 they investigated seven actual incidents and in 2017 there were 12 classified as hate bias crimes.
Police Chief Norm Hansen said the numbers can be misleading.
"There was one evening when somebody spray-painted a combination of anarchy symbols and swastikas on the road in four different places," he said. "So, because it's reported four times, that's four crimes when really it's one, so that bumps the stats up as well. Again, we take it seriously, but what we found especially with youth is sometimes when they're doing these things, they don't even understand what the swastika means."
Police said in both 2017 and 2016 one arrest was made involving assaults, and each was related more to mental health than hate, although there were slurs directed towards race, religion or sexual orientation.
Chief Hansen said the statistics do not involve organized groups targeting certain individuals.
"I just want people to be assured that we're on top of anything that would be related to hate crime," he said, "I can tell you that in my memory, we only had one organized group come to Sarnia and it was many, many years ago. They were subjected to some definite target enforcement by our service and they left town."
Chief Hansen said the police service will continue to work with community partners to ensure Sarnia remains a safe city to live in.
-With files from Lee Michaels
