Crime, Arrests Down First Half Of Year: Brookline Police

BROOKLINE, MA — Crime in the first half of 2018 is generally down in Brookline, the police department announced today. During the first six months of 2018, there were 128 arrests made, down 34 percent from the 193 during the same period last year, according to an annual report the department releases.

Crimes like murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle thefts (Part A Crimes) were down nearly 4 percent in the first half of the year compared with last year. There were slight upticks in burglaries and car thefts but there were reductions in assaults and larcenies, according to the report.

"Day after day, Brookline police officers display outstanding performance in a variety of situations and consistently demonstrate their commitment to providing the highest quality of police service to the public. With professionalism and expertise, we continue to build relationships with citizens in order to improve personal safety, protect individual’s rights and property, and promote individual responsibility and community commitment to keep our citizens safe and aware. As we move forward, we will continue to work to improve the services we provide to the community," Acting Police Chief Mark Morgan wrote in the report.

Last year this time total crime reported, including assaults, larceny and burglary was down by about 19 from the previous year, according to police data from 2016.

There were increases in burglaries, which ticked up from 25 to 27 this year and motor vehicle thefts were up from six to seven reported thefts. The number of robberies in both years was four.

Rapes were down from two to one, assaults were down from 69 to 62, and larcenies were down from 242 to 234.

Between January 1 and June 30, this year there were a total of 335 Part A Crimes, down 3.7 percent from 348 that same period in 2017.

For 2018, total violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and assault) are down 11 percent with 67 this year, versus 75 in 2017; and total property crimes (burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft) are down 268 this year versus 273 in 2017. At the end of 2017, crime was down 67 percent from where it was in 1994, and police said this trend seemed to be continuing.

There have been no murders in town since 2007.

Brookline Crime Is Down: Brookline Police (2017)

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff