Palo Alto police are investigating a case of vandalism as a hate crime that occurred in a downtown parking lot after an unknown person wrote comments directed against people from India, local authorities reported.
The Palo Alto Police Department said in a statement that on Thursday, April 6, at around 8:54 a.m., its call center received a call for vandalism that had just been discovered in City Lot "S," the parking lot at 445 Bryant Street.
The informant, a City of Palo Alto Public Works employee, informed police that he had observed offensive writing inside the public restroom on the ground floor.
An officer responded and looked at the writing, which had been done in black marker. All were comments directed against people from India. A Public Works team removed the offenses.
Police believe the crime occurred from around noon on April 5, as staff had last checked the bathroom at that time. There is no information on who could commit the acts.
Officials said they will fully investigate any reported hate crime in Palo Alto, and invited residents to read a City blog post titled "Steps the Community Can Take to Help Stop Hate Crimes."
In turn, authorities recalled that the City of Palo Alto vigorously denounces hate crimes of all kinds and encourages members of the community to report these incidents immediately by calling the 24-hour call center at (650) 329- 2413, or 9-1-1 if it is an emergency.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Reports or anonymous information can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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