Fall River sees increase in violent crime, decrease in property crime in new report

Fall River has seen an increase in violent crime and a decrease in property crime this past year, according to a new report.

An end-of-year-report issued by the City of Fall River Police Department, has revealed that 2,274 part A crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson) were committed in Fall River in 2021 which is an increase from 2,243 part A crimes committed in 2020. Violent crimes showed an increase of 20.36% whereas property crimes showed a decrease of 6.75%. The violent crime increase is caused by a marked increase in aggravated assaults and smaller increases in robbery, rape, and murder.

(All charts and graphs courtesy of Fall River Police)

In 2021, sexual assault calls increased by 27.10% from 2020 to 136, but has seen an overall decline since 2018.

Through the year, the FRPD investigated 92 robberies, a 4.55% increase compared to 2020. Of the 92 robberies, there were 75 where the robbery committed was person-to-person whereas there were 17 robberies of a commercial business. Most of the person-to-person robberies involved drug transactions.

In 2021, police responded to 672 incidents that resulted in at least one aggravated assault charge, a 23.99% increase from 2020. 1,583 assaults overall were reported for the year.

For the year, the Fall River Police Department investigated 494 burglaries which is a 8.33% increase from 2020.

Over the last five years, reported larcenies has continued to drop. From 2020, larcenies have gone down 6.17%.

For 2021, 13 fire incidents were reported that led to at least one arson charge, a 59.38% decrease from 2020.

Reported motor vehicle thefts have been cut in half over the last four years from 247 in 2017 to 120 in 2021. Mopeds/scooters were #2 in thefts with 12. Hondas had the most with 14. Fords came in third with 11.

Physical arrests decreased again in 2021 with 1,676 total, down 46.30% from 3,121 in 2017. There were 1,689 in 2020. Summons arrests have seen a similar trend.

In 2021, FRPD made 86 firearm related arrests, a 26.47% increase from 2020.

Drug arrests hit a high of 493 in 2020 and were cut in half in 2021 where there were 248.

Prostitution arrests are on a continued decline from 96 in 2018 to 12 in 2021.

Shots fired incidents in 2021 decreased 10.53% from 2020 with 153 calls. 98 of those calls were either unfounded or confirmed no shots. 14 of the calls resulted in a person being hit. 29 resulted in property damage only.

Mental health calls increased in 2021 by 6.30% to 1,215. The report notes that a call coming in as a mental health call doesn’t necessarily mean a mental health incident took place.

The number of domestic violence calls for service has decreased in 2021, there were a total of 3,245 domestic violence calls for service, a 4.78% decrease from the previous year.

Overdoses increased in 2021, however deaths decreased. 2020 saw 678 overdoses and 64 deaths while 2021 saw 742 overdoses, but 62 deaths. An increase in Narcan use may have attributed to the lower death count. Despite the one year increase, overdoses have decreased since 2018 when there were 1,022.

FRPD saw nearly 185 calls to service per day on average, a slight increase from 183 in 2020.