Community Corner

MBTA: Serious Crime Down, See How Brookline Fared

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 Brooklinewith 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 Brooklinewith 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 Brookline:

BROOKLINE HILL-D LINE:

2012 Assault 1

Larceny 1

2012 Total 2

 

BROOKLINE VILL-D LINE:

2011 Larceny 2

2011 Total 2

2012 Larceny 1

2012 Total 1

 

LONGWOOD- D LINE:

2011 Robbery 1

2011 Total 1

2012 Larceny 1

Robbery 1

2012 Total 2

 

CHESTNUT HILL-D LINE:

2011 Larceny 1

Robbery 1

2011 Total 2

2012 Larceny 3

2012 Total 3

 

CLEVELAND CIRCLE-C LINE:

  2012 Burglary 1

2012 Total 1

 

ELIOT- D LINE:

 2012 Larceny 1

2012 Total 1

 

LONGWOOD- D LINE:

2011 Robbery 1

2011 Total 1

2012 Larceny 1

Robbery 1

2012 Total 2

 

ST MARY ST-C LINE:

 2011 Assault 1

2011 Total 1

 

ST PAUL ST- C LINE:

 2012 Larceny 1

2012 Total 1


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here