Philadelphia's district attorney has established a task force to "vigorously prosecute" hate crimes in the city in response to several incidents following the presidential election.
Seth Williams said Monday that he's assigned one assistant district attorney in each of his office's six designated zones to the team.
A joint statement released by Williams along with Police Commissioner Richard Ross and the city solicitor served as a "reminder" that hate crimes will be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law."
Pennsylvania's crime code has no statute on hate crimes. The closest offense is "ethnic intimidation," which is always filed in connection with another crime.
An FBI report on hate crime statistics for 2015 found that 14 of such incidents were reported by authorities in Philadelphia last year.
