MBTA Crime Rate Hits Record Low

Incidence of homicide, larceny and aggravated assault on Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority property dropped 21 percent in 2009, the MBTA Transit Police reported in a press release last week. This represents the MBTA’s lowest level of serious crime since 1980.

“When you consider we transport 1.2 million people a day on our system, the number of crimes that occur on our system is incredibly low,” said Joseph O’Connor, deputy chief of the MBTA Transit Police.

In 2009 there were 827 recorded serious crimes, also classified as Part I crimes, compared to 1052 reported in 2008.

Aggravated assaults fell from 103 to 88 in the last year, and there were no homicides in 2009.

He attributed this to more effective policing as well as other initiatives the MBTA has introduced.

To address recurrent problems such as parking lot thefts, the MBTA police launched public awareness campaigns.

Police officers handed out literature at MBTA stations reminding people to put away valuables such as GPS navigation devices and to wipe the mounting marks left by these devices off their windshields after use.

Theft from motor vehicles is classified as larceny, which O’Connor said is the most common type of crime committed in the MBTA system.

Incidence of larceny dropped 26 percent from 701 to 522 last year. Despite this drop, preventing larceny remains a priority for MBTA officials.

Beyond MBTA campaigns and strategies, O’Connor said passengers still need to make an effort to be more careful with their belongings, such as bicycles and electronic items.

The MBTA has also introduced initiatives to combat Part II crimes, which include fare evasion, simple assault and loitering. While Part I crimes have decreased in the past year, Part II crimes have increased by 32 percent.

The MBTA targets fare evasion with a strategy called “point-of-entry policing,” in which police officers in uniform and plainclothes are assigned to MBTA entry points to issue citations to fare jumpers.

If the violator has an outstanding warrant, he or she will be arrested. There were 2,864 fare evasion citations issued in 2009, up from 1,267 in 2008.

—Staff writer Joanne S. Wong can be reached at joannewong@college.harvard.edu.