Springfield sees drop in violent crime, rise in thefts

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – A new FBI report shows violent crime—including murder— dropped across the nation last year.

22News spoke with local law enforcement about what we are seeing here in western Massachusetts.

The city of Springfield saw a record number of homicides in 2023. But their latest numbers for 2024 are showing a more hopeful sign things could be turning around.

“We did hit that record high for homicides, but in terms of shooting victims, year to date we are down about 30% this year compared to last year,” says Springfield Police Spokesman Ryan Walsh. “The biggest thing we are seeing is auto thefts, involving KIA’s and Hyundais—which really spike our numbers.”

Springfield uses the National Incident-Based Reporting System to measure the crimes in the city, but new FBI statistics are also showing a similar downward trend in violent crimes, as of 2023. The numbers trended downward after a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, when homicides increased nearly 30% across the nation in 2020.

The report shows that from 2022 to 2023 violent crime was down about 3%, and property crime dropped nearly the same (2.4%). Most notably, murder and non-negligent manslaughter were down nearly 12% (11.6%)—which is the largest single year decline in two decades– and rape decreased by just over 9% (9.4%).

The Springfield Police Department says they continue their efforts to keep a downward trend going, “We use our real-time crime analysis center to help do some proactive patrolling—but other than that we are utilizing the latest technologies, which we are working with our officers and civilians to try to be at the right spot at the right time,” adds Walsh.

Not all crime saw a decrease last year, the report also shows that motor vehicle theft was up nationally, by nearly 13% (12.6%) between 2022 and 2023.

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