LYNN — There’s not the same “nighttime silliness” in downtown Lynn these days. But there are more domestic calls, from people cooped up inside.
Lynn Police Officer Ralph Sirois is in his 18th year working with the department, having spent nine previous years with the Nahant Police Department, and time with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office before that. Sirois said there’s a noticeable difference in the city, especially in the downtown and Central Square area he’s patrolled for more than a decade, due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
“Things are starting to get scarcer and scarcer,” Sirois said. “You’re always going to have your regulars. Your people passing through, going to community health… But compared to a month ago, if you go down there, you will notice a difference.”
There’s been a “spike” in calls about domestic disturbances in the last month, Sirois said, but in a field where frequent contact with other people is part of the job, Lynn Police officers have had to modify their approaches to taking calls and making arrests.
In fact, police really are trying to avoid making arrests unless it’s necessary, due to the efficiency COVID-19 can spread from person to person.
“Lately, we’ve found a spike in domestic problems. Obviously, people are cooped up in the house, with the fear of getting sick on top of it, and the financial drama on top of that,” Sirois said.
“Unfortunately, we’re the ones who get summoned to these things and say, ‘Look, we’re not trying to arrest people right now, we’re not trying to send people to jail right now for obvious reasons,” he said. “We try to mitigate it, say, ‘Can you go for a walk?’ Ninety percent of the time that works.”
Overall, people have responded well when approached by police during the pandemic. Anyone can — and no one wants to — get sick, Sirois said.
“The general population I deal with downtown have been good sports about all of this,” Sirois said. “We’ve modified our approach (addressing disturbances), and might go up and say, ‘Hey, guys. What are you doing?’”
Lynn Police officers have gloves and masks with them, Sirois said, and when responding to a call, a determination has to be made about whether a person could potentially be infected.
That determination starts with the dispatchers, Sirois said. Dispatchers will ask questions about whether someone is showing symptoms of COVID-19, or if they have come in contact with an infected person.
“If there is a determination that somebody has symptoms or has been diagnosed, we try to stay outside and have them come out to us,” Sirois said.
In some cases — ones that aren’t criminal in nature — the Fire Department or EMTs can respond to a call, and the police simply won’t go as they would normally.
But with the ever-increasing number of COVID-19 cases, trying to completely eliminate the possibility of officers getting exposed is becoming futile.
For example, a computer database is being set up to flag “at-risk” properties and properties with known COVID-19 cases, Sirois said. The intention is to better prepare officers responding to a situation with a potentially infected person — letting them know if those gloves and masks are necessary. However, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Lynn have increased to more than 400, up from 106 just a week ago, according to the office of Mayor Thomas M. McGee. It’s uncertain how realistic the computer database will be.
“They’re kind of coming fast and furious,” Sirois said.
And there’s the potential for wrongdoers trying to use the current pandemic as a tactic to delay police.
“So far — and I am knocking on wood — we haven’t had anyone threaten to have coronavirus,” Sirois said.
There are also people with mental health issues that could be exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak, Sirois said.
“People who have mental health issues, even in normal times, these are folks that have trouble. We try and settle them down, and sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Sirois said.
While domestic calls seem to be up, calls for nighttime assaults seem to be down, Sirois said. A lot of that has to do with the bars having shut down, and the lack of the “nighttime silliness” that normally happens downtown, he said.
But, then again, some days are much different than others, Sirois said.
“There were a couple of days where I was driving around and around and there was nothing going on. But unfortunately, people are starting to get stir crazy. Last Sunday, you would’ve thought it was a Saturday night in July. It ran the gamut, from ODs to domestic disturbances.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in scale, there have been scares when it comes to diseases like Ebola and SARS, and police officers have had to deal with outbreaks and infectious people in the past, Sirois said. When it comes down to it, Lynn Police officers have to be ready to do their jobs, even with the risk of getting sick.
“Basically, this isn’t different from anything else in the past,” he said. “There’s always going to be that time when you’re going to have to go hands-on with someone.”
David McLellan can be reached at [email protected].
Lynn Police crime stats show domestic calls up
LYNN — Compared to last year, there is a negligible difference in the amount of commercial robbery and robbery amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Lynn.
However, “domestic related incidents,” as well as motor vehicle thefts, are up, according to crime statistics provided by the Lynn Police Department comparing March 2019 and March 2020.
Increases
There were 98 assaults in March, compared to 77 last year, a 27 percent increase. This includes an increase in assaults with a firearm (from four to five), assaults with a deadly weapon (from 21 to 28), an simple assaults (from 52 to 65).
Domestic incidents are up, from 70 last March to 92 this March, a 31 percent increase.
There were 10 motor vehicle thefts in March, compared to only one last March.
Overall, burglary has increased negligibly (from 13 to 14), but there has been an increase in commercial burglary, from one to four incidents, and a decrease in residential burglary, from 12 to 10 incidents.
Decreases
Larceny is down very slightly, from 72 cases last March to 68 this March. Heroin overdoses have also slightly decreased — from 40 to 37 overall, with six deaths this March compared to seven last March.
Much of the Lynn Police Department’s data shows hardly any difference between last March and this March. There were no commercial robberies this March, compared to two last March. There was one more street robbery without a firearm, three instead of two, and armed street robberies remained the same, at one.
When it comes to the most serious of crimes, there were no homicides in March last year, but there has been one this year. There were two rapes last March, but none this year.
From February 2020 to March 2020
Lynn Police also provided statistics showing the number of certain crimes in February 2020 compared to March 2020. The most noticeable differences are an increase in assaults across the board — total assaults were 74 in February, compared to 98 in March — and an increase in motor vehicle theft — three in February, 10 in March.
While comparing heroin overdoses in March 2020 to March last year shows a decrease, the month-to-month, February-to-March stats show a slight increase, from 33 in February to 37 in March, with six deaths in each month.
Year-to-date
A comparison of year-to-date stats from 2019 and 2020 show increases in homicide (from one to three), assault (from 214 to 267), motor vehicle theft (from 12 to 20), and larceny (from 191 to 227) a decrease in rape (from 11 to 3). The same stats show a decrease in the number of rapes (from 11 to 3).
Comparing 2019 and 2020 — year-to-date, crime is up 17 percent overall, from 488 to 572 incidents.
