Violent, Property Crime Totals Down for Tewksbury in 2015: New FBI Data

TEWKSBURY, MA — New data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Tuesday indicates that the number of both violent and property crimes known to law enforcement in Tewksbury have decreased in 2015 compared to 2014..

According to the latest Uniform Crime Reporting statistics (UCR), there were 83 violent crimes reported in Tewksbury in 2015, compared to 86 violent crimes reported in 2014 representing a 3.4 percent decrease. The number of total property crimes also decreased from 418 in 2014 to 373 in 2015 representing a decrease of 10.7 percent.

However, while violent crime decreased overall in Tewksbury, the number of reported rapes increased from 8 in 2014 to 18 in 2015.

That's based on reported offenses documented in the FBI's 2015 Uniform Crime Report.

According to the UCR program, violent crime is composed of murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime is includes the offenses of 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.

• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter: none in either year
• Rape(revised definition): 18 in 2015, 8 in 2014
• Robbery: 7 in 2015, 8 in 2014
• Aggravated Assault: 58 in 2015, 70 in 2014

Here's how Tewksbury'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.

• Burglary: 48 in 2015, 53 in 2014
• Larceny/Theft: 299 in 2015, 341 in 2014
• Motor Vehicle Theft: 26 in 2015, 24 in 2014
• Arson: zero in 2015, 1 in 2014

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.

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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