Police arrest three teens for hate graffiti

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The Glen Cove Police department arrested three defendants on Jan. 26 in connection to the Anti-Semitic graffiti found at the Welwyn Preserve in the Nassau County Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove on Dec. 2. 

The three suspects are all from Hicksville and are 14-, 17- and 19-years old. According to police, the suspects had spray painted swastikas on the property, as well as painting the tag name of “Tommy Tahoe” and “CAP.”

The incident occurred a week after the HMTC had been vandalized with other Anti-Semitic graffiti and damage to many of its signs and gardens. 

Following the incident, the Glen Cove Police Department had increased patrols in the area and made seven arrests for graffiti. All seven of those arrested were non-Glen Cove residents, according to GCPD. The Welwyn Preserve has numerous vacant buildings on the property and is a well-known destination sport for graffiti artists, but it was only until recently that Anti-Semitic graffiti has begun to pop up and invade into the HMTC.  

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based organization that works to fight against anti-Semitism, there were 1,879 attacks against Jewish people and Jewish institutions in 2018, the third-highest year on record since the ADL began tracking these numbers in the 1970s. Records show that the total number in 2019 could be higher. 

Days after the second set of graffiti was found, Nassau and Suffolk County officials launched a Long Island-wide taskforce aimed at fighting anti-Semitism and symbols of hate. New York State Assemblyman Charles Lavine and State Sen. Todd Kaminsky have also introduced legislation in the state that would bring hate symbol education to public schools. At the national level, Rep. Tom Suozzi is supporting the Never Again Education Act, which would promote education about the Holocaust and hate crimes in schools.