Area A-1 Sees 21-Percent Drop in Part One Crime from Last Year

As August of 2020 was drawing to a close, Area A-1 had seen a 21-percent reduction in violent and property crime from last year.

According to Boston Police, 1,252 incidents of Part One crime were reported between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30 of this year in the district that includes Beacon Hill, Chinatown Downtown and the North End – down from 1,583 during the same timeframe in 2019.

No homicides were reported in the district either this year or last, while rapes and attempted rapes were down nearly 32 percent as the number dropped to 13 from 19 in 2019.

Robberies and attempted robberies saw a more than 9-percent decline, with 88 so far in 2020 as opposed to 97 last year.

Incidents of domestic aggravated assault saw a slight uptick as the number climbed to 14 from 13 last year, but non-domestic aggravated assaults were down more than 19 percent as the number fell to 145 from 180 in 2019.

Commercial burglaries saw a 145-percent increase, with 98 incidents this year, up from 40 last year, though, while in contrast, residential burglaries saw a minor decline, with 27 incidents this year, down from 29 in 2019.

No other burglaries have been reported in 2020, meanwhile, compared with nine last year.

Incidents of larceny from a motor vehicle were up 20 percent as the number climbed to 174 from 145 last year, while other larcenies were down around 33 percent, with 644 this year as opposed to 995 in 2019.

Occurrences of auto theft also dropped nearly 13 percent, with 49 in 2020, down from 56 last year.

With its 21-percent reduction in violent and property crime Area A-1 saw the most pronounced decline in Part One crime in any of the city’s 12 districts so far this year, while Area 15 (Charlestown) experienced the biggest uptick at 40 percent as the number of incidents there climbed to 279 from 200 last year.

Citywide, Part One crime was down 5 percent, with 10,847 incidents this year, as opposed to 11.383 in 2019.