(ABC 6 News) — After Representative Kim Hicks’ home was vandalized with racial slurs and antisemitic symbols over the weekend, many in the Rochester community are calling for those responsible to be charged with hate crimes.

Hate crimes do not exist under Minnesota statute, instead there are crimes of bias, which target a victim based on factors like age, race, gender, religion and more.

Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem could not speak on the ongoing investigation into the vandalism at Rep. Hicks’s home, but he did say that bias is typically added onto a different crime when investigators determine the crime was committed because of one of these factors.

“It could be a regular assault,” Ostrem said. “But it was committed because of the victim’s perceived race or religion or something like that.”

When bias is added on top of the crime, it often increases the penalty of the original crime, according to Ostrem.

Earlier this year, a group of juveniles posted a racial slur on a bridge near century high school, and while the incident was investigated, no charges were filed because the act was protected under the First Amendment and it was not targeted at a particular person, according to Ostrem.

After seeing multiple incidents of hate, officials from the Rochester branch of the NAACP say they want to see convictions to show that this behavior is unacceptable in Rochester.

“This is not an isolated incident, and its not gonna change until we hold people accountable. Until we find them, until we convict them,” Walé Elegbede, President of the Rochester NAACP, said.

The Rochester branch of the NAACP will be holding a forum and rally on the fight against hate at the Rochester Civic Center on Sunday, August 11 at 3 p.m.

If you have any information on the individuals responsible for the vandalism at Rep. Hicks’ home, you are encouraged to contact the Rochester Police Department.