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.

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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 Back Baywith 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 in the Back Bay:

BACK BAY  

2011

Assault 2

Burglary 1

Forcible Rape 1

Larceny 25

Robbery 5

2011 Total 34

2012

Assault 6

Forcible Rape 1

Larceny 13

Robbery 7

2012 Total 27

BOYLSTON

2011

Larceny 1

Robbery 1

2011 Total 2

2012

Larceny 2

Robbery 1

2012 Total 3

COPLEY

2011

Assault 1

Larceny 2

2011 Total 3

2012

Assault 3

Larceny 1

Robbery 1

2012 Total 5

MASS AVE STATION

2011

Assault 3

Larceny 4

Robbery 13

2011 Total 20

2012

Assault 1

Larceny 6

Robbery 5

2012 Total 12


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