Worcester Area Crime Fell In 2018: FBI Crime Stats

WORCESTER, MA — New FBI data show crime decreased in the U.S. between 2017 and 2018. The FBI recently published its final analysis of “Crime in the United States, 2018,” finding the estimated number of violent crimes in the United States fell 3.9 percent compared to 2017. The property crime rate also dropped nearly 7 percent from 2017.

The FBI cautions the report is only a snapshot and not an accurate indicator of larger sustained trends — but Worcester did see a drop in some key crime rates in a year-over-year comparison.

The nationwide drop in violent crime represents the second straight annual decrease after increases in 2015 and 2016. The FBI estimated there were 368.9 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans last year.

Nationwide, robbery fell 12 percent from 2017, murder and non-negligent manslaughter decreased by 6.2 percent, and aggravated assault dropped by a fraction of a percent.

Rape was the only violent crime to increase in 2018 from 2017. The FBI began to collect rape statistics under a revised definition in 2013, and the agency decided to stop reporting of rape data using the old definition in 2017. But to remain consistent with past reports, the 2018 update includes figures based on the former definition.

The new definition expands the meaning of rape to include additional forms of penetration of a victim’s body.

Some 139,380 cases of rape were reported under the revised definition in 2018, up from 135,666 in 2017. By comparison, some 101,151 cases of rape were reported under the legacy definition, up from 99,708 in 2017.

In the Worcester area, the violent crime rate was lower than the national rate last year at 331.9 per 100,000 residents. That includes 11 murders and non-negligent manslaughters. The murder rate in Worcester was 1.3 per 100,000 people, much lower than the national rate of 5.0.

(These crime rates are for the Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Worcester County and a portion of Windham County, Conn.)

The FBI also estimated there were nearly 7.2 million property crimes across the United States in 2018. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, and all five of the categories saw a decrease from 2017.

In 2018, the FBI estimated there were 2,362.2 property crimes per 100,000 Americans nationwide, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the 2017 estimated rate. The Worcester area had a rate of 1,184.60 property crimes per 100,000 residents

Here are other notable findings for the Worcester area:

• Population: 186,188
• Robbery: 290
• Aggravated Assault: 928
• Burglary: 849
• Larceny-theft: 2,790
• Motor vehicle theft: 340

Notable nationwide findings:

• There were more than 1.2 million violent crimes across the country.
• Law enforcement made an estimated 10.3 million arrests in 2018 (excluding traffic violations) which is a slight decrease from 2017.
• The juvenile arrest rate fell 11 percent in 2018 over the 2017 rate.
• Victims of property crime, excluding arson, lost an estimated $16.4 billion in 2018.

The data used in the “Crime in the United States, 2018” report was provided by more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies across the country.