Thieves, Vandals And Bad Drivers: 2011 Crime

Theft and vandalism were among Lynnfield's most commonly reported crimes in 2011, according to data from the Police Department.

A month by month breakdown of the town's incident-based reporting figures shows that out of 864 incidents responded to last year, traffic and town bylaw offenses were among the most common with 192 - more than a fifth of the total.

Also accounting for a significant share of service calls in 2011 were reports of vandalized, damaged and destroyed property - with 125 reported last year. However, police were kept even more busy by the volume of theft-related calls that came in. Burglary led the way in this department with 76 reported, followed by 58 motor vehicle break-ins. Reports in the "all other larceny" category amounted to 103, not counting the 4 reports involving stolen vehicle parts, the 8 shoplifting incidents, 7 stolen cars and 5 bad checks and 7 forgery complaints (and even 2 robberies reported) - along with various other scam and theft activities.

Other crimes that are fairly common in larger cities were not much of a factor in Lynnfield. For example, police handled seven drug/narcotic violations all year, plus 11 DUI cases and nine incidents involving drunkeness.

Some more random offenses handled by the department in 2011 included 30 assault cases, a forcible sodomy report, a statutory rape report, two disorderly conduct reports, and 25 cases involving intimidation.

Perhaps predictably, crime reports tended to decrease in town during the colder months. For example, January and February of last year saw a respective 54 and 51 incidents reported. In contrast, April and May saw a respective 92 and 99, followed by 75 in June, 78 in July, and 90 in August. For November and December, both months saw 58 incidents, back closer to the numbers seen the previous winter.

Also, the above service calls do not include the many other traffic enforcement actions that police conducted in 2011, and which were reported on in early January. In that article, Police Chief David Breen indicated that the town's traffic enforcement activities were up 130% in 2011 compared to 2010, with 1,209 actions including verbal warnings, citations, and written warnings.