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All it took was a few strokes of spray paint, and the city of Bowie is dealing with its first hate crime in two years.

Graffiti of swastikas and references to Adolf Hitler's birthday were found Saturday morning near the front entrance and on the left side Yorktown Elementary School, according to Bowie and Prince George's County Police. Several nearby cars, including a Prince George's County Police Department patrol car, were also hit with graffiti, including the word "pig" on the police car. The city experienced a rash of hate crimes, mostly graffiti, in 2004 and 2005 and established a diversity committee in response to the incidents.

Hate crimes dropped off in the following years, with only two hate crimes being reported in unincorporated areas of Bowie in the last two years. The fact that Saturday's incident was in the city makes it all the more disturbing, said Una Cooper, the city's communications coordinator.

According to statistics provided by the county police department, the Bowie area recorded 10 hate crimes in 2004, seven in 2005, three in 2006, one in 2007 and one in 2008.

The county police department's hate crimes unit is now investigating the incident and offering a reward for information about the crime.

County police spokeswoman Cpl. Erica Johnson said it was not immediately discernable if the graffiti was directed toward anyone specific or if it was just someone messing around.

The graffiti was cleaned up Saturday afternoon and a letter was sent home to parents of Yorktown students Tuesday alerting them of the incident, said county schools spokeswoman Tanzi West.

"We encourage parents to continue to talk to kids about safety and not doing things like that," West said. "We hope that people respect our buildings as such and know that children come there every day to learn… We want our kids to go to schools that are graffiti-clean and safe."

The Bowie City Council issued a statement Sunday denouncing the graffiti.

"[The council] is especially concerned when the acts seem to target a particular segment of our population because these sentiments are hurtful and do not represent the feelings of our community as a whole," the statement said.

Neither Bowie nor county police could provide information on the number of cars vandalized or the slurs used by press time.

The city's Diversity Committee offers information and clarification on hate crimes and the city's policy, said committee chairwoman Elveeda Dixon.

"We just want the police to do their job and investigate and catch the people responsible," she said.

Anyone with information regarding the incident should contact Prince George's County Police Department District 2 offices at 301-390-2100.

E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.