These lists are part of this year’s Property Crime in Massachusetts: A 25-Year Retrospective
According to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s latest report, these cities are the Top Ten cities and communities in Massachusetts that had the highest volume of property crime in 2012. The report defined property crimes as Burglaries, Larcenies, and Motor Vehicle Thefts. The Public Safety report showed the volume for both cities and communities, but after reviewing the data, Agency Checklists created its own chart based upon the reports.
Agency Checklists calculated for the top ten cities that Public Safety ranked by crime numbers the actual percentage of such crimes by population. Interestingly, using the percentage of crimes per person the number one city moved to number nine position. Agency Checklists thought it might be of interest to Mass. agents to see which towns across the Commonwealth have the most property crime by both rate and volume.
The Top Ten Cities For Property Crimes Measured by the Number of Reported Burglaries, Larcenies, and Motor Vehicle Thefts
Agency Checklists used the ten cities (Boston, Springfield, Worcester, Brockton, New Bedford, Lowell, Cambridge, Fall River, Holyoke, and Lynn) that Public Safety ranked as the ten cities in Massachusetts with the most property crimes to create the following chart. This chart has the original information from Public Safety’s report for these ten cities. However, the Agency Checklists chart calculates the percentage of property crimes occurring in relation to each city’s population. By that measure, Boston swaps places with Holyoke by moving from first position to ninth position.
The Top 10 communities by Rate of Property Crime in Massachusetts
The Public Safety report also had a ranking of all Massachusetts communities reporting data on property crimes (297 out of 351). These statistics showed a marked difference from the data for the top ten cities. Two of the cities (Holyoke and Springfield) appear in both listings but eight of the ten rankings are taken by smaller cities and towns. Public Safety speculates that in some cases the higher crime rates result from the influx of tourists and short-term visitors. For example, Public Safety notes that the population of Dennis which is listed as 4,090 swells to 63,000 persons in the summer. Likewise, Provincetown jumps to over 60,000 in the summer months from its approximate 4,000 year-round inhabitants.
You can read the full February 14, 2014 Report of the Department of Public Safety at Property Crimes in Massachusetts: a 25-Year Retrospective.
