Murders jumped 50 percent in Boston in the first half of this year compared to last, while overall crime is down 5 percent, the Boston Herald reports. Between Jan. 1 and June 10, 24 people were killed in the city — eight more than the 16 slain in the first six months of 2017. “Five of them have been stabbings, which is very unusual for us,” said Police Commissioner William Evans. “We’re working very hard to keep the homicide rate down. We seem to get bursts of them, then we’ll go five weeks without any.” There have been 19 fatal shootings since Jan. 1 compared to 12 last year. Non-fatal shootings dropped dramatically, from 78 last year to 57 this year. Evans said officers have removed 300 illegal firearms from the city’s streets this year.
Robberies fell from 597 in 2017 to 520 in the same period, while residential burglaries went from 685 to 580. Evans credits advances in technology, including computerized car locks and home-security systems, with the reductions, especially in residential burglaries and auto theft, which decreased from 496 to 460. There was some good news for store owners, too: Commercial burglaries are down from 186 last year to 136 this year.