Boston officials celebrate 2024 crime statistics

With New Year’s Eve just around the corner, Boston city leaders are celebrating the success of “policies that have made Boston the safest big city in the country.”

Mayor Michelle Wu, Police Commissioner Michael Cox and Senior Advisor for Community Safety Isaac Yablo invited reporters to police headquarters Friday to discuss last year’s crime statistics.

“Safety is not just the absence of harm, fear or violence; it is the positive affirmation of belonging,” Wu said. “From the people who are excited to be part of a community where they are welcome and can take advantage of every opportunity in every part of every neighborhood.”

The mayor said recent crime prevention successes stem from a violence reduction workshop held for city agencies in 2022. Wu said key strategies included regularly providing crime statistics to communities, recruiting larger classes of new and diverse officers and a police contract for 2023 that includes disciplinary reforms, youth programs, summer jobs and the deployment of community intervention teams.

Video below: Mayor praises city safety improvements

Boston saw a record low number of murders in 2023, and as 5 Investigates reported, the numbers continued to decline this year.

Cox announced Friday that the city’s 24 homicides so far this year “appear to be the lowest since 1957” and are “by far” the lowest number since modern data collection began in 2007.

“In my entire time as a police officer, since I took office, the city has never been safer. Point. When it comes to crime, especially violent crime, and it could probably go back as far as before I was born in the city,” said Cox, a Boston native who served as an officer and became commissioner in 2022.

“It really was a comprehensive effort. This is about saving lives, and that is perhaps the most important investment of all – stopping the cycle of trauma and violence,” Wu said. “We also see that focusing on achieving results, particularly in the areas of violent crime, leads to resources that can then be deployed to address quality of life and safety issues that residents may feel most.”

Video below: Commissioner describes the 2024 crime statistics

Cox said 2024 was the third consecutive year of declines in the number of shootings and the lowest since at least 2005.

“This has been the lowest shooting year in the city since 2011, when we began reliably tracking the statistics,” Cox said.

Cox also said 2024 would be the third consecutive year of declines in the number of shootings and the lowest since at least 2005.

“This has been the lowest shooting year in the city since 2011, when we began reliably tracking the statistics,” Cox said.

“If we do a good job of reducing violent crime, we will do a good job of everything else,” Wu said.

In September, 5 Investigates examined the Violence Reduction Task Force, which is credited with playing a key role in curbing violence through a model of prevention, intervention and enforcement known as “PIE.”

Wu is celebrating these safety statistics ahead of a very busy 2025. The mayor said she will launch her re-election campaign early next year, after the birth of her third child.

“We know there is still much work to be done, so today is not a victory lap, but a report and a reflection of the results we see when we all embrace community safety as a collective responsibility,” Wu said.