Report: New Bedford Crime in most important categories in 2024 depressed

The crime in the city has fallen or remained in most categories in most categories, with the exception of an unusually violent month last summer.

The four murders in August alone corresponded to the number of murders in the city for each of the past four years and increased the murder number 2024 to seven. Otherwise, the crime was on the way to a cheap or approximate level, led by sharp declines of the robbery, heavy attack and burglary.

The improvement is particularly striking 10 years ago. According to the report, violent crimes – murder, rape, robbery and serious bodily harm – decreased from 1,014 incidents in 2015 to 406 in the previous year, which was a decline of 60%.

Real estate crime – arson, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft – from 3,211 incidents in 2015 to 1,546 last year, a decrease of 52%. Theft is defined as theft of real estate and includes shoplifting, wallet and theft from a building, a car or a vending machine.

Even in recent years, fatal and non -fatal drug overdoses are also. Practitioners for pharmaceutical treatments say that this is probably due to a number of approaches for “damage reduction” for substance billing, and the greater availability of narcan or naloxone, a medication that is used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose.

In the past five years, however, the incidents of shots, simple attacks and motor vehicle theft have also been recorded.

In a press release, Chief Paul Oliveira, who will retire on May 3, said the progress of “focused enforcement, strong partnerships in the community and a common obligation to make a safer new Bedford”.

In an interview on Tuesday, Oliveira attributed a large part of the improvement to better use of information. He said that the department, which has just stopped a second statistical analyst, collects more information about where crime takes place in the course of the case, and uses patterns and uses this data to direct law enforcement.

“We got better to get these numbers out of officers to know where to be, when we should be there,” said Oliveira.

For example, information on stolen cars could be marked for attention because stolen cars are often used in other crimes, especially in shootings, said Oliveira. A person who was released from prison or prison and is known to the police could be identified as a potential risk of crime.

The report brings good news for a police department, which was shown in March and April by the Spotlight team from Boston Globe in poor light. “Snitch City”, a number of stories and podcasts about abuses of confidential informants in narcotics examinations, focused particularly on Oliveira's work as a detective detective for narcotics.

The department has questioned part of the reporting, including the question of the reliability of the sources of the newspaper.

In response to this, the Mayor Jon Mitchell named 21cpsolutions in March, a consultant for public security, to examine and report the narcotics and interior matters of the New Bedford Police Department in about three months. Mitchell also commissioned Michael Berkow, former head of internal affairs from the Los Angeles police department, to check the reporting of the Globe. “So that no area that needs improvement,” wrote Mitchell and added that the results of Berkow were published. Mitchell also said that he had forwarded the Globe series to the FBI.

In a written declaration, Mitchell said that the crime report was “a difficult proof that the men and women of the police do the task for our residents. This is also confirmation of the extended use of data analyzes by the department in order to achieve a step before the development of public security threats, and confirms the value of the ongoing advance to modernize political practices.”

More shots fired

Shots have been fired at least since 2020 from 45 to 67 in the previous year and 68 last year, a difference of 51%. The report shows that of the 68 incidents of Schüussen 42 only caused damage to property, 14 in injuries and three deaths.

Oliveira said that the increasing number of shots that were fired could be bound to a few main factors: more unmetable or “ghosts” weapons on the street and the fact that young people usually shoot weapons. It is very difficult to keep young criminals away from the street, he said.

“Since the youth court system works, it is very difficult to lock young people.” We have seen it for some time. “

Two of the three fatal shootings were among the four murders in August. There was no pattern for the murders and no connection between them.

In the first, 44 -year -old Aaron Britto was shot in Earle Street early Sunday morning, August 4th. The 21 -year -old Anthony Jalo was later arrested and accused of shot Britto and taking a chain he wore.

On August 17, the 26 -year -old Nicholas Miller was shot in front of a bar in the County Street. Published reports stated that he and the accused Sagittarius Raymond Albury (27) from Weymouth were familiar.

On August 20, Stephen Oswald, 58, was found on a bench at the Rockdale Avenue on a bench after he had stepped and stamped. The 31 -year -old Nina Bünengo, who most recently lived in Mattapoisett, was charged with the crime.

On August 24, a family argument led to the fatal stabbing of Omil Padilla-Corsino (23) in an apartment on South Street. His uncle Juan Padilla-Santana, 42, from Puerto Rico, was charged with the murder.

In April at Austin Street and in Stabbings in the Atlantic Street in September and October, arrests were also made in a deadly shootout in the Atlantic Street.

New Bedford safer from violence as a brockton and case River

Compared to two comparatively large cities in this part of the state, New Bedford looks safer, but not of property crime.

The numbers for Brockton and River case are not yet available for 2024, but the figures from 2023 show that the rate of violent crimes per 10,000 inhabitants in New Bedford was lower. The violent crime rate in 2023 was 49 per 10,000 inhabitants in New Bedford, 66 in Brockton and 84 in the River case.

The real estate crime rate was 158 per 10,000 in New Bedford in 2023, 125 in Brockton and 139 in River.

The population of New Bedford in 2023 was almost 101,000, Brockton was around 106,000 and River 94,000.

Some crime numbers rose over five years and then fell

While the new Bedford report in most categories has been showing crime since 2015, there have been fluctuations from one year to the next in the past five years.

The sexual assault rose from 88 incidents in 2020 to 120 in 2022, then fell to 98 in 2024. The robbery fell from 108 in 2020 to 86 in 2021, rose to 112 in 2022 and fell back to 86 last year.

The severe attacks rose from 382 to 429 from 2020 to 2022 and have dropped to 228 since then.

Three exceptions to falling crimes in the past five years are incidents of shots, simple attacks and motor vehicle theft.

Simple attack has increased since 2020, from 1,339 to 1,522, almost 14%. In 2024, motor vehicle theft fell to 270 after it had dropped to 347 to 347 in 202 the previous year.

E -Mail reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org.

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