Homicide rate falls to lowest level since ’03
But troubling trends emerge in rape, larceny
As Boston was set to finish the year with the lowest number of homicides and shootings since 2003, community leaders who work to prevent violence said they remain concerned about the general rise of sexual assaults and an increase in robberies in usually quieter parts of the city.
There were 49 killings in Boston as of last night and 192 nonfatal shootings as of Tuesday, according to Boston police figures. The number of killings was the lowest in six years; the city finished 2003 with 39 homicides.
The numbers, though not as low as the late 1990s when the city’s dramatic drop in homicides drew national attention, pleased police. Commissioner Edward F. Davis credited the decline with a departmental strategy that had officers getting out of their cruisers and interacting more with residents of neighborhoods historically besieged by violence. Arrests for gun possession were up slightly, with 554 firearm arrests as of Dec. 20 compared with 552 for the same period in 2008.
“They tell a good story,’’ Davis said of the crime figures in a phone interview yesterday. “I believe that the strategies that we’ve employed over the last year have worked very well.
Still, other crime figures indicated a more troubling pattern in the number of sexual assaults, robberies, and property crimes around the city.
Citywide, there were 272 rapes and attempted rapes as of Monday, compared with 214 for the same period in 2008, according to the most recently available figures.
Most of the increases came from districts that cover Roxbury and Dorchester, historically more troubled neighborhoods when it comes to crime.
While robberies were down 5 percent citywide, they remained high in the district covering Jamaica Plain, and increased slightly in districts covering South Boston and East Boston.
On Wednesday, there were five robberies in a 24-hour period, according to Boston police figures.
Saturday afternoon, a store clerk was fatally shot after he handed over cash from the register at a Tedeschi Food Shop on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, a bustling neighborhood of restaurants, antique furniture stores, and boutiques.
Davis said yesterday that more witnesses have stepped forward to help police as they work to track down the robber who killed the clerk, 39-year-old Surendra Dangol. Police still have not found the car in which the suspect fled. It has been described as a white four-door sedan, possibly a 1986-1992 model Plymouth Acclaim. The FBI is trying to enhance video footage taken of the suspect’s escape, but had not made out a license plate as of yesterday, Davis said.
The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, executive director of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, said reports of robberies in neighborhoods like West Roxbury and South Boston may be a sign that the still-weak economy is leading to desperate actions.
“That troubles me. Violence is due to multiple factors and the economy being one of them, you don’t want [people’s] anxiety to increase as a result of that and then get trigger happy,’’ he said. “There are no jobs to be had in the near future. I mean, it makes me nervous.’’
Jorge Martinez, director of Project RIGHT in Roxbury, said he believes the robberies are part of a seasonal trend, with more people out holiday shopping.
Martinez said he is more concerned about the rise in sexual assaults, which have affected his neighborhood in particular. District 2, which covers Roxbury, reported 58 rapes as of Monday, compared with 32 in 2008.
Davis, who ordered a study of the trend, said that preliminary results show that in the majority of the assaults, the victim and the attacker knew each other or were related.
But Martinez said the statistical data reported by Boston police is “only the tip of the iceberg.’’
“Those crime numbers are useful, but they’re only a small percentage of what’s happening,’’ he said.
Martinez said he has spoken with representatives from health centers around his neighborhood who tell him there are many assaults against the elderly and teenagers that are not reported to police.
He said Boston police should visit senior centers regularly to encourage the elderly to step forward if they have been abused, so they feel less embarrassed reporting sexual assaults.
Still, Martinez said he was cautiously optimistic about the general downward trend of violent crime in Boston.
“You’re not getting from the public that we’re ahead of the curve or that things have settled,’’ Martinez said. “It’s more ‘wait and see.’ ’’
As for Davis’s own future, the commissioner, who has led the department for just over three years and last year was rumored to be leaving, plans to stay on the job.
“I’m sticking around,’’ he said.
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 
