3-6-2008 Massachusetts:
LYNN - While there's no mistaking Lynn's gang activity was constant in 2007, newly released statistics show notable declines in some of the city's crime and major increases in other areas.
The good news: motor vehicle thefts went down 38 percent in Lynn since 2006, while robberies decreased 26 percent and assaults dropped by less than one percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Rate statistics released by the Lynn Police Department this month.
However, the rate of forcible rapes went up 15 percent to one of its highest levels in two decades and larcenies (excluding motor vehicle thefts) went up 13 percent since 2006.
Five homicides were reported in Lynn in 2007, up from four in 2006.
"We had [five] last year, which is high," Lynn Police Chief John Suslak said.
Of the five murders, three were connected to domestic violence and two were gang or drug-related. The UCR statistics show a 31 percent drop in burglaries, from 980 incidents in 2006 to 681 in 2007. However, motor vehicle break-ins were included in the 2006 statistics but not in the numbers for 2007, which is why a significant drop is shown on paper.
Oftentimes when a serious crime is publicized, concerned Lynn residents say crime is getting worse.
"I don't think it has," Suslak said.
The police chief and long-time Lynn resident explains that from a historical standpoint, crime rates for 2007 are pretty average.
"Whatever you focus on, whether it's a shooting or a stabbing, it always looks like it's bad because ... what we're reporting is bad. But if you look at it, as far as historical averages, I think we're doing pretty well."
According to the UCR statistics, Lynn recorded 15 murders in 1994 - the most recorded homicides in one year between 1980 and 2007. The homicide numbers steadily declined until 1998, when only one murder was reported. Then in 1999, the homicide total jumped to six. Since 2000, the city has recorded between one and five homicides per year.
Thirty-nine rapes were reported last year - only two shy of a 20-year high. In 1988, the city recorded 41 rapes, which is the highest amount recorded in one year between 1980 and 2007.
"It's a concern to us," Suslak said. "We really can't pinpoint any one specific reason for the increase."
Suslak says one possibility for the high sexual assault rate has to do with more victims having the confidence to come forward and report a rape. The chief says it doesn't appear any repeat sex offenders committed the sexual assaults reported in 2007.
When asked what is the biggest problem the city faces, the chief responded, "gangs and drugs."
"A lot of the crime we see is related to one of those two," Suslak said.
Suslak says drug addicts committed a large portion of break-ins, while gang members or drug dealers involved in disputes often cause stabbings and shootings.
"We had 21 gang members shot in the city last year," Suslak said. "It was an unfortunate year."
But it could have been worse, and Suslak credits Lynn's participation in several law enforcement collaborations, including the North Shore Gang Task Force, that made it easier to track criminals who venture outside city limits.
"Our officers will go to Salem or Peabody and go to the mall, for example, and say that's a gang kid," Suslak said. "They're up here and you need to know they may be in your community trying to recruit."
The task force integrates detectives from Lynn and nearby local police departments, along with state and federal authorities to track gang activity. The Lynn Police Department's Gang Unit also forms relationships with community groups like Straight Ahead Ministries, NAACP, the Zion Baptist Church and Girls Inc.
"It makes sense for us to not only find out what's going on in the city of Lynn, but to find out what's going on in Swampscott, Revere and Saugus because those people come to our town too. If someone is an active drug user and doing street robberies in Salem, the next week they're doing them in Lynn," Suslak said.
Taking a pro-active approach to crime, Lynn police also helped form the "Teen Drop In Center" at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, where local teens can play basketball every Saturday night.
Suslak announced in the interview that State Police designated Lynn as a future regional intelligence node - a "fusion center" where state and local law enforcement could map crime activity on the North Shore. Two other intelligence nodes are planned in the northeast region of Massachusetts, in Lowell and Framingham.
Besides gangs and drugs, Suslak says another serious crime problem is domestic violence. Officers now carry cards outlining what factors indicate a domestic violence suspect is at a high risk to re-offend, which include threats of murder or suicide, previous arrests for violence or access to weapons.
"We're trying to train our officers to identify high-risk indicators in domestic violence cases, but also so we can educate the [bail] clerks that might be inclined to release these individuals on bail. We might say 'look, we really need to try to hold on bail if we can,'" Suslak said.
The cards were inspired in part by the murder-suicide that took the lives of Xiomara Robles and Raymond Echavaria in a horrific elevator explosion on Market Street on March 14, 2007.
"I think every department likes to think they're doing what they can to try to prevent these [situations] from happening. The fact is, they still continue to happen," Suslak said.
Despite the constant need for law enforcement, Suslak says the department is dealing with a $250,000 budget cut in Fiscal Year 2008, including the removal of a traffic enforcement van and two patrol cars from each shift. Two officers were reassigned from the Special Investigations Unit to patrol duties for financial reasons, the chief said.
"The men and women here do an excellent job," Suslak said. "There is a concern about staffing levels we are trying to address. Everyone including the mayor is concerned about it as well. We're all trying to make due with our resources." ..more.. by Dan O'Brien / The Daily Item
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