Crime & Safety
Crime Is Down First Four Months This Year: Cambridge Police
Still, larcenies from homes are up over the same period last year.
CAMBRIDGE , MA — Cambridge crimes considered serious went down 10 percent in the first four months of the year this year compared with the same period last year, while 42 fewer crimes were reported this year when compared with the same time period last year.
In 2017, the City of Cambridge recorded its lowest crime index total since 1963, according to police. That downward spiral of serious criminal activity in the city has continued throughout the first four months of 2018.
A review of violent crime statistics for the first 120 days of this year — from Jan. 1 to April 30 — shows a moderate decrease of 8 percent. During the first 17 weeks of this year, there were 612 serious crimes reported in the city. For the same time period in 2017, the combined total for murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft was 662 incidents, 50 more than this year.
Find out what's happening in Cambridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Still, there were 16 more crimes considered serious in April compared with March.
Although the numbers are down on the whole, when it came to larceny from a home this year compared to last, the number of reported incidents have actually gone up from 46 reported during the first four months last year compared with 79 this year. That's a 72 percent increase.
Find out what's happening in Cambridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Last year there were six rapes during the time measured, this year so far there have been eight reported to police.
So far there have been no reported murders in the city. For the 30-year period between 1960 and 1989, the City of Cambridge averaged slightly less than five murders per year. The annual average since 1990 has fallen to approximately two per year. Trend analysis over recent years points to two recurring murder scenarios in Cambridge: domestic murder, in which one family member is brutally killed by another in a homicidal rage, and the murder of young males by a handgun or knife in acts of retaliatory street violence.
NEW REPORT: Analysis of #CambMA crime totals for the first 4 months of 2018 reveals that violent crimes recorded a 10% decline, while property crimes continued their descent with 42 fewer crimes (-7%) recorded when compared with the same time period last year. pic.twitter.com/2ehnuv54gy
— Cambridge Police (@CambridgePolice) May 4, 2018
Check out the rest of the analysis here: Cambridge Crime Stats First Four Months Of 2018.
File photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch
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