Police Investigating Yard Sign Vandalism as Hate Crime

Published on April 12, 2022

Palo Alto, CA – Police are investigating the vandalism of a yard sign at a residence as a hate crime.

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at about 4:08 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a resident in the 3300 block of Park Boulevard reporting that their “Black Lives Matter” yard sign had been vandalized by an unknown suspect.

The investigation revealed that the resident, a woman in her sixties, said the sign had been vandalized sometime that day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.  The suspect had used an adhesive to cover the word “Black” with a piece of paper bearing the word “Asian.”  When the resident attempted to remove the added word, it destroyed the original sign, which she valued at $10.  She told police this was the third time that the sign had been tampered with; in the prior two cases (October 2021 and February 2022, both documented by police as hate incidents), an unknown suspect had slipped an “Asian Lives Matter” sign over the resident’s sign, causing no damage.  Police believe all three incidents are likely related, but do not know why this residence is continuing to be targeted.  There have been no similar incidents involving yard signs reported to police in Palo Alto in 2022.

Officers will thoroughly investigate any reported hate crimes in Palo Alto, including stolen or destroyed yard signs if the incident appears to be motivated by the victim’s real or perceived protected social group.  You are welcome to read a blog post from the City entitled “Steps the Community Can Take to Help Stop Hate Crimes.”  The City of Palo Alto strongly denounces hate crimes of all kinds and encourages community members to promptly report these incidents by calling our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413, or 9-1-1 if it is an emergency.  To view details on other hate crimes reported in Palo Alto, visit /PAPDnews and search by keyword “hate.”

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.  Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.