COUNTY PLANS CAMPAIGN TO TARGET HATE-CRIME JUMP.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

While crime overall is down, the number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County continues to increase, prompting top officials Wednesday to call for a new effort to prevent bias-related violence.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced that the county's Human Relations Commission would convene a series of hate-crime summits to educate community leaders and the public about the steps that need to be taken to curb hate violence.

``For too long, people in Los Angeles County have turned a blind eye as violent assaults and acts of terror are aimed at individuals solely because of their skin color, religion, culture, sexual orientation or gender,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``In L.A. everybody is now a minority. There is no majority. The way you solve the hate problem is to get rid of ignorance.''

Yaroslavsky was joined at a news conference announcing the summits by Supervisors Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Don Knabe, City Attorney James Hahn and Sheriff Sherman Block.

``It is important for the public to understand that hate crimes are much more than offensive acts of intolerance. They are crimes in every sense of the word,'' Block said.

The county's Human Relations Commission reports each year on the incidence of hate crimes. Back in April, it put out a report announcing a 25 percent increase in hate crimes in 1996. The commission has been directed by the Board of Supervisors to convene three regional hate-crime summits to be followed by a countywide summit and the issuance of a report to the board by the end of March 1998.

The first summit is slated to be held at the end of the month in Carson but specific date or site have been set. The location and dates of the other summits are being weighed.