2011 Crime Rate Jumps by 11 Percent

Charlestown was just one of two Boston neighborhoods to see an increase in crime in 2011 with an 11 percent jump over 2010.

District E-18, serving Hyde Park, saw a one percent increase in crime, while each of Boston’s other neighborhoods saw decreases of up to 15 percent.

In December, Sgt. Tom Lema as the largest driver for the increased crime rate. Later that month, Capt. Bernard O’Rourke later said that the town may be seeing something of a “limbo stick” effect.

“Four and five and six years ago, we had some really high numbers,” O’Rourke said at .

Since then, he noted Charlestown had some years with crime rate drops of as much as 30 and 45 percent.

With rates dropping that low, he said, spikes in specific crimes can distort overall numbers.

He noted that the town actually saw decreases in certain crimes—robberies in 2011 dropped from 46 to 31; car thefts dropped form 79-63, and aggravated assaults dropped from 56 to 53.

At the same time, according to statistics released this week by the Boston Police Department, break-ins and thefts increased from 65 to 76 and 345 to 432, respectively.

While the numbers might describe an overall improvement in violence, a handful of particularly shocking crimes punctuated the year; gun violence claimed the lives of in town. Police have also connected a trio of suspects to a that one neighborhood councilor called one of the “” acts he remembered in Charlestown.