LYNN — Despite police concerns that the prevalence of masks could lead to an increase in crime, robberies have significantly declined in Lynn since the start of the pandemic.
From 2019 to 2020, there was a 42 percent reduction in robberies, from 108 to 63 total.
“That was obviously a concern,” said Lynn Police Lt. Michael Kmiec. “Our initial thought was that there would be a major increase when it came to convenience stores, but that has definitely not been the case.”
Commercial robberies were down from 18 to 11 from 2019 to 2020. Of those robberies, four were committed using a firearm, as opposed to seven in 2019.
“It was surprising, especially considering the masks,” said Kmiec. “But you have to take into consideration that at that point in time there were a lot less people on the street.”
However, this trend showed signs of reversing in the first two months of 2021. There were 16 robberies in January and February combined — more than double the amount that occurred over the same timeframe in 2020. Three of those were commercial robberies, and none of the commercial robberies were committed using a firearm.
Police in Lynn attribute that recent bump to an increase in public activity.
“We’ve started to see more people out on the streets than we did before,” said Kmiec.
While masks don’t appear to lead to those sorts of commercial robberies, they have led the police to have some difficulty in identifying subjects.
“With people out in the masks, it makes identification and catching suspects more difficult,” Kmiec said, citing difficulties both in witnesses being able to point out identifying features for suspects and in police recognizing suspects from surveillance footage.
Other crime statistics held more steadily during the pandemic. The murder rate remained unchanged from 2019 to 2020, assaults were up 7 percent, and larceny was up 8 percent. Burglaries were down 23 percent. Heroin overdoses were down 3 percent from 404 to 393, and 48 residents died as a result.
One of the most significant increases came in domestic-related incidents — up 24 percent from 953 incidents in 2019, to 1180 incidents in 2020.
In the first two months of 2021, that increase became more pronounced, with a 47 percent increase in domestic incidents.
“We assumed that was because a lot of people remained inside and you couldn’t go out,” said Kmiec. “There was a lot more stress going on.”
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
