By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.
According to the latest crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), residents and police here in Lynn saw a decline in overall violent crimes, burglaries and larcenies, while other crime categories ticked up slightly or stayed virtually the same from 2013 through the latest statistical year, 2015.
The decline in major violent crime categories and burglaries comes eve as the city saw its reported population swell from 91,769 people in 2013 to 92,856 in 2015.
The annual Crime in the United States report for 2015 does not provide any information to explain why the numbers of reported crimes may increase or decrease from year to year, it simply records the numbers of reported crimes in various categories.
However, the trends of decreasing crimes across several categories should be considered good news for the city, even if other crime categories increased or held steady over the same time frame.
According to the last three years of records, the city is relatively safe from murders, with only two murder in each of 2013 and 2015, with a spike of 5 murders in 2014. The numbers of reported rapes dropped from 2013 to 2014, from 39 to 24, but then climbed back up to 37 in 2015, essentially showing little change over the three year average.
However, major crimes categories including overall violent crime, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and larceny all declined in each of the three most recent years from 2013 to 2015. This is potentially a sign that either policing methods are working, fewer people are reporting crimes or perhaps some combination of the two.
Here is the list of eight major crime statistics compiled by the reported from 2013 through 2015.
(See Crime Stats table sent separately)