Crime & Safety

Property Crime Down in Lexington: New FBI Data

The number of reported property crimes in Lexington has taken a dip in 2015 compared to 2014's total.

LEXINGTON, MA — New data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Tuesday revealed that property crime in Lexington decreased from last year to this year.

According to the data, there were 150 property crimes in Lexington in 2015, compared to 220 property crimes in 2014 which represents a decrease of 31.8 percent.

Here's how Lexington 2015 property crime statistics compared to its 2014 numbers. The FBI does not publish arson data unless it receives data from either the agency or the state for all 12 months of the calendar year.

Find out what's happening in Lexingtonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

  • Burglary: 22 in 2015, 35 in 2014
  • Larceny/Theft: 127 in 2015, 181 in 2014
  • Motor Vehicle Theft: 1 in 2015, 5 in 2014
  • Arson: zero in both years

The UCR serves as guidelines for many things, from informing law enforcement decision on budgeting and resource allocation, to informing lawmakers' anti-crime legislation.

However, the FBI cautions against using them as a means of comparing different locales, since there are many factors at play, including but not limited to: population density and degree of urbanization; the number of young people; economic conditions; and family conditions.

Find out what's happening in Lexingtonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Editor's Note: Patch is focusing for the purposes of this piece a year-over-year comparison, as well as a quick look at state versus local numbers for the years noted above. These data in isolation should not be considered a trend."

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