Berkeley police are increasing bicycle patrols and their presence in the most visible areas of the city to provide more safety following a rising number of attacks on Asian Americans in the region, state and nationally, police said this week.

Monthly community advisory meetings will continue to be held to provide a place where people can share their concerns about safety.

Police are asking people to report the circumstances of any hate crime or incident they were a victim of or if they believe one was committed. People can call police at 510-981-5900.

Police are asking people to call 911 if they see a hate crime or incident in progress.

Keith Burbank is currently a fulltime reporter covering Alameda County and Oakland news for Bay City News. He has also worked on the Data Points project for Local News Matters, finding trends and stories about the region through data. In 2019, he was a California Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, producing a series about homeless deaths in Santa Clara County. He worked as a swing shift editor for the newswire for several years as well. Outside of journalism, Keith enjoys computer programming, math, economics and music.