Valley: Ground Zero for hate crimes

The number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County soared by 28 percent last year to the highest level in five years, with the largest number of incidents in the San Fernando Valley, officials said Thursday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The increase - to more than 760 - comes even as the Sheriff's Department and Los Angeles Police Department reported a 5percent to 6 percent reduction in overall crime.

But analysts said hate crimes in the county - up from 594 a year earlier - are fueled by an increase in white-supremacist gangs in the region, the growing popularity of "white power" music, gang rivalries and tensions between African-Americans and Latinos.