Reported hate crimes in Colorado fell almost 30 percent between 2009 and 2010, according to a national report released by the FBI today.
Colorado law enforcement agencies reported 154 hate crimes last year, down from 218 a year earlier. In 2008, 164 bias-motivated offenses were logged across the state.
The annual accounting is required by the federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990.
Hate crimes are classified as those motivated by biases based on race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or disability.
The FBI​ cautioned media and others from ranking states based on the data, because of many variables that could draw inaccurate contrasts, especially population and the number of participating law enforcement agencies.
In Wyoming, for instance, two agencies reported a total of two hate crimes in 2010. Forty-four agencies participated in Colorado's report.