Community Corner
MBTA: Serious Crime Down, Bike Thefts Up
Most crime went down last year, but bike thefts and aggravated assaults went up.
Crime is mostly down on the MBTA with a few exceptions, according to figures released Tuesday.
Serious crime – as defined by the FBI as homicide, rape, aggravated assaults, robbery, auto theft, burglary and arson – went down 11 percent in 2012, according to MBTA Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan in a statement.
Violent crime, which includes robbery, rape and aggravated assaults, were down 6 percent and there were no homicides on the MBTA last year.
Find out what's happening in Beacon Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
There was also a 22 percent drop in robberies, and property crimes, including larceny and theft, went down 13 percent, according to the figures.
Aggravated assaults increased over the period, but MacMillan said an analysis of these incidents revealed no pattern.
Find out what's happening in Beacon Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
According to the figures, two-thirds of all serious MBTA crime is non-violent property theft, and one-third of property theft involves stealing of bicycles.
“While we have had success in decreasing overall theft, bicycle theft continues to be a concern for us”, MacMillan said in the statement. “We continue to conduct awareness campaigns and the MBTA continues to construct pedal and park areas to better secure bicycles. As more and more bicycles are used by our passengers, we will continue to focus on this issue.”
Over this period, ridership increased to over 1.3 million passengers per day, according to the statement.
Here is the crime breakdown for stations near Beacon Hill:
BOYLSTON
2011
Larceny 1
Robbery 1
2011 Total 2
2012
Larceny 2
Robbery 1
2012 Total 3
DOWNTOWN CROSSING
2011
Assault 3
Larceny 14
Robbery 20
2011 Total 37
2012
Assault 3
Larceny 4
Robbery 10
2012 Total 17
GOVERNMENT CENTER
2011
Larceny 3
Robbery 2
2011 Total 5
2012
Larceny 3
2012 Total 3
NORTH STATION
2011
Assault 3
Larceny 10
Robbery 1
2011 Total 14
2012
Assault 2
Larceny 9
Robbery 5
2012 Total 16
PARK STREET
2011
Assault 5
Larceny 14
Robbery 6
2011 Total 25
2012
Assault 7
Larceny 7
Robbery 4
2012 Total 18
STATE STREET
2011
Assault 3
Larceny 4
Robbery 6
2011 Total 13
2012
Assault 2
Larceny 2
Robbery 3
2012 Total 7
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
