Cambridge 2020 Serious Crime Review

Press release from the City of Cambridge:

February 26, 2021

During an unprecedented year of economic shutdowns and social distancing in 2020, the City of Cambridge experienced an 8% increase in total Part 1 Crimes* this year. Much of this increase can be attributed to pandemic-related rises in thefts from motor vehicles and thefts of packages and bicycles. The 2020 total of 2,443 crimes is 184 incidents above the record-low total of 2,259 set in 2019.

The total reported in 2019 represented the lowest total of index crimes reported to the FBI since Congress enacted the Omnibus Crime Control Act in 1968. Despite the increase in 2020, this year was still only the fourth time in more than 50 years that the crime index total dropped below 2,500 incidents in Cambridge.

Further analysis of the crime breakdown indicates that there were 2,157 property crimes recorded in 2020, 189 more than the number reported in 2019, equaling an increase of 10%. Meanwhile, there were 286 violent crimes reported in 2020, five fewer than in 2019, which translates to a reduction of 2%.

*Serious crime refers to Part I “Index” crimes; the seven serious crimes which the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program collects statistics on.

This press release was produced by the City of Cambridge. The views expressed here are the author’s own.