Somerville Violent Crime Totals Drop in 2015: FBI

SOMERVILLE, MA – Violent crimes in Somerville dropped in 2015, though property crimes were on the rise compared to the previous year, according to new data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The latest Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics show there were 193 violent crimes reported in Somerville in 2015, compared to 213 the year before, marking a 9.4 percent drop. Meanwhile, property crimes rose from 1,224 in 2014 to 1,634 in 2015, representing a 33.5 percent increase.

According to the UCR program, violent crime is composed of murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Here's a look at the difference in violent crimes reported between the two years as listed in the latest data. There was one murder reported in 2014 and none the following year.

Rape (revised definition):

• 2015 - 8
• 2014 - 10

Robbery:

• 2015 - 38
• 2014 - 58

Aggravated Assault:

• 2015 - 147
• 2014 - 144

Here's how Somerville's 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. In both years, multiple arsons were reported in Somerville.

Burglary:

• 2015 - 304
• 2014 - 192

Larceny-theft:

• 2015 - 1197
• 2014 - 923

Motor Vehicle Theft:

• 2015 - 133
• 2014 - 109

Arson:

• 2015 - 3
• 2014 - 4

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.

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.

Image via Shutterstock

Joe Lipovich (Patch Staff) contributed to this report.