Pittsfield: Property Crime Up, Violent Down in April

PITTSFIELD, Mass. —  An "unusually high" number of commercial burglaries occurred during April, according to a report released from the Police Department.

The number of burglaries more than doubled over March. The month of April saw 43 burglaries compared to just 21 in March, which has been mostly characterized by a large number of motor vehicle burglaries.

"Although the rash of motor vehicle burglaries that we saw in March died down considerably this month, it was unfortunately replaced with an unusually high number of commercial burglaries," the Police Department wrote in a monthly "city stats" report.

Burglaries are still lower than they were at this point last year. In 2013, there were 131 and, so far this year, there have been 109. However, the number of burglaries in April are 23 percent above the five-year average.

"The average increase for burglaries between March and April is five cases, but this year we have had a 22-case increase. This spike, however, can be attributed to a rash of commercial burglaries we have had this past month," the report reads.

In nearly all types of property crime — from larceny to shop lifting to motor vehicle theft — the city was above the five-year average in the month of April. The only crime trending below is larceny from a person. 

Overall, April saw 135 cases of property crime compared to 100 last month. The property crime rate for April was 48 percent more than the five-year average.

Property crime has been on an uptick each month, but violent crime is significantly down.

"Recovering from some slipups last month, April has seen decreases in violent crime across the board," the report reads. "In all categories, April 2014 showed a 5 percent or higher decrease compared to the 5-year average (except for homicide, which has an average of 0 cases). The most notable difference, again, is the drastically smaller number of aggravated assault cases. Over the past five years, April usually brings an average of 12 aggravated assault incidents and this year, we have only had one."

There were two rapes, one robbery and one aggravated assault case in the city in April. The four total cases is down from nine last month.

Violent crime overall is down 78 percent in the month of April than the five-year average.

Pittsfield Police April 2014 CityStat Report