As August of 2020 was drawing to a close, Charlestown had seen a 40-percent spike in violent and property crime from last year – the biggest year-to-date increase in any of the city’s 12 districts and a number driven in particular by car breaks.
According to Boston Police, 279 incidents of Part One crime were reported between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30 of this year in Area 15 – up from 200 during the same timeframe in 2019.
The main driver of the increase was, in particular, car breaks and house breaks.
Incidents of larceny from a motor vehicle were up around 115 percent as the number climbed to 99 from 46 last year, as other larcenies saw a nearly 25-percent increase, with 106 reported in 2020, compared to 85 last year.
The rate of residential burglaries more than tripled as the number shot up to 22 from seven last year. As for other burglaries, none were reported in Charlestown this year or in 2019.
While no homicides were reported either this year or last, the number of rapes and attempted rapes dropped down to one from three last year.
The rate of robberies and attempted robberies, on the other hand, doubled, with six this year, compared to three in 2019.
Incidents of domestic aggravated assault were down one-third as the number fell to 14 from 21 last year.
Similarly, incidents of non-domestic aggravated assault were down nearly 29 percent, with the number dropping to 14 from 18 in 2019.
Commercial burglaries held steady, with two incidents both this year and last, while the rate of auto theft, meanwhile, remained the same at 15 incidents both this year and in 2019.
At 40 percent, Area 15 saw the highest increase in Part One crime in the city’s 12 districts so far this year, while Area A-1, which includes Beacon Hill, Chinatown Downtown and the North End, saw the biggest decline as the number of incidents fell to 1,252 from 1,583 last year.
Citywide, violent and property crime was down 5 percent, with 10,847 incidents this year, as opposed to 11,383 in 2019.