SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle police say bias incidents, including hate crimes, are increasing in the city.

The Seattle Times reported (http://bit.ly/2wVZpaZ ) Tuesday that the Seattle Police Department counted 178 reports of bias incidents, including 62 of malicious harassment, during the first six months of 2017.

That compares with 128 bias incidents during the first half of 2016, 50 of which were malicious harassment.

Detective Beth Wareing, who coordinates the department's response to bias crimes, said she has seen an uptick in reports from people who witnessed bias crimes but were not targeted themselves.

Wareing said she would like to expand outreach efforts to Spanish-speaking, transgender and homeless communities because she believes those groups might have barriers to reporting bias.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com