Boston saw fewer homicides in 2024 than it had in nearly 70 years, officials said Friday.
Mayor Michelle Wu, Police Commissioner Michael Cox and Senior Advisor for Community Safety Isaac Yablo held a media briefing Friday afternoon to tout their crime prevention efforts.
Cox called it "kind of a historic run," noting that his department has successfully partnered with the community to fight crime across multiple categories.
Overall incidents of gunfire were down 14% this year, he said, and saw the lowest rate of gun violence since 2011 when they began tracking them. It also marked the third consecutive year of declining shooting victims and incidents.
Cox said violent and property crimes were up 1%, driven by increases in aggravated assaults and commercial burglaries and larcenies. But overall violent crime was down 2%.
And he said the 24 homicides in the city this year appear to be the lowest since 1957, representing a 33% decrease from the previous year and a 37% decrease over the five-year average.
Property crime was up 2%, Cox said, due mostly to a 30% increase in shoplifting.
"The city has never been safer -- period," the police commissioner said. "Probably back to before I was born. I'm a longtime resident of the city, and I've never been more proud of the city and the leadership of the city in relationship to crime and crime reduction."
"We are in good hands, and the numbers certainly show that," Wu said. "I am proud and grateful for all the work that has gone into making us a national leader, with numbers that are really lower comparable to no other major city in this moment, around the homicide rate and other factors."
"Today is not a victory lap but a report out, a reflection of the type of results we see when we all understand community safety to be a collective responsibility that we share and that everyone has a part in," she added. "We look forward to more work ahead in continuing to drive down every category of crime, but I want to thank all those who have worked so hard over this last year and over the last three years."
