1998 Annual Report

Larceny

Larceny is the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another. It includes crimes such as shoplifting, pocket-picking, thefts from motor vehicles, thefts of auto parts and accessories, horse thefts, and bicycle thefts, in which no use of force, violence, fraud, or trespass occurs. In the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, this crime category does not include embezzlement, "con" games, forgery, and worthless checks. Motor vehicle theft is also excluded from this category, as it is a separate crime index offense.

Larceny is the most commonly reported Part I crime, accounting for 62% of the Part I crime total. However, it is probably also one of the most underreported crimes. Many victims of larceny-especially if the dollar amount is low-simply don't bother to call the police when a theft occurs. In addition, a high portion of shoplifting incidents are not seen and are thus not reported.

Larceny is broken into nine sub-categories, five of which reported decreases in 1998. Most notable was the 21% decrease in bicycle theft and the 14% increase in larcenies from motor vehicles.

The miscellaneous larceny category increased 132% from 22 to 51 incidents. This category contains all thefts that could not be categorized as anything else: for instance, theft of items left unattended in public, outdoor areas. There are no patterns or trends hidden in this total. It is an unusually high number, but is not indicative of any ongoing or developing crime problem.

Larceny from Buildings

Larcenies from Buildings are non-burglary thefts from commercial establishments. "Non-burglary" means that either the offender had a specific right to be on the premises, or that the building was open to the general public, and that no force was used to gain entry to the building where the theft was committed.

The 570 larcenies from buildings reported in 1998 equals about 60% of the totals reported at the beginning of the decade.

The following are the most common larceny from buildings scenarios, in order of frequency in 1998:

Thefts from offices (179 total). Accounting for 30% of the larceny from building total, this type of theft involves company property (the hottest target is laptop computers) about two-thirds of the time, and personal employee property (wallets, bags, purses) the other third. About half are committed during the day, at opening, closing, or lunch time, when people are moving around and strangers are less conspicuous. Often, the suspect poses as a maintenance, repair, or delivery person. The offender grabs some office property and walks out of the building, usually with no one seeing him. Nighttime thefts, on the other hand, are usually attributed to employees or service personnel. The Kendall Square and Harvard Square districts traditionally report the greatest percentage of these thefts.

Retail Thefts (95). This is not shoplifting, but instead thefts of employee's or store's property carelessly placed unattended in a back room or behind a counter at a retail establishment. Other employees are suspected in a fair number of these thefts, but many can be attributed to customers who seize an opportunity when all the store employees are busy. This categorization accounts for 17% of larcenies from buildings.

Property unattended during dinners or social functions (48). This includes items taken from coats in coat check rooms, items left at dinner tables while socializing, dancing, or using the bathroom, and so on. Usually occurring during the evening, this category accounts for 8% of larceny from buildings.

Forgotten items (40). Property, often bags, backpacks, or cellular telephones, left in telephone booths, in bathrooms, on retail store counters, and myriad other locations. When the owner realizes that his or her property is missing, and returns to the location, the property has been taken. This accounts for 8% of the total.

School Thefts (31). Thefts of items, often belonging to a faculty member, left in classrooms or study rooms at schools.

Construction site thefts (29). The larceny of tools or equipment left unattended and unsecured at construction sites, usually overnight or over the weekend. East Cambridge and Cambridgeport experienced many of these thefts in 1998.

Hotel room thefts (25). Mysterious disappearances of items left by guests in hotel rooms. This affects the East Cambridge and MIT areas most often.

Health club locker thefts (19). This has been a problem for several years, particularly in East Cambridge and Porter Square. A patron working out returns to his or her locker to find it pried open, with the valuable contents (usually a wallet) missing.

 

Larceny from Motor Vehicles

Larcenies from Motor Vehicles involve an offender either breaking into a car and stealing valuables within or stealing an exterior accessory (such as tires and hubcaps) from an automobile.

In 1998, 28% of all larcenies from motor vehicles involved car accessories, such as hubcaps, tires, car stereos, mirrors, and seat backs. The other 72% were thefts of non-accessories such as gym bags, wallets, cash, personal papers, eyeglasses, and cellular telephones. 69% of the stolen "accessories" were car radios, stereos, and CD players ripped from the dashboard. Of the "non-accessories," the most stolen items were cellular telephones. 178 cellular phones were stolen from cars in 1998, accounting for 35% of the "non-accessory" thefts and 25% of the total thefts.

About 80 percent of larcenies from motor vehicles are accomplished by breaking into the car-usually by smashing a window or by prying a lock.

Analysis of the increase in 1998 is hardly difficult. The monthly graph to the right shows the city's larceny from motor vehicle totals running even with 1997 until August, when it suddenly shot up. The crime peaked in September and did not return to near-normal levels until November. The crime has been anything but predictable; peaks like this have traditionally arrived from June to August; in 1997, there was no peak, and in 1998, the peak moved ahead two months.

A neighborhood breakdown shows Mid-Cambridge at the lead with 102 larcenies-an increase of 96% from the (unusually low) total of 52 in 1997. Towards the end of the year, multiple thefts were reported at a handful of residential parking garages on Harvard and Hancock Streets. Most thefts in this neighborhood, however, take place off the street.

Cambridgeport came in second with 96 larcenies from motor vehicles. Several patterns were tracked in the lower half of the neighborhood, in the area bordered by Chestnut, Magazine, Hamilton, and Sidney Streets. Green Street, Franklin Street, and Memorial Drive are also hot spots. Cambridgeport was one of the neighborhoods affected heaviest by the fall increase.

Unlike Mid-Cambridge and Cambridgeport, East Cambridge's high total is due to its heavy commercial traffic. Streets and parking lots around the CambridgeSide Galleria are most affected by the high larceny from motor vehicle total in this area. The crime fell 28% in this neighborhood in 1998.

Much of the Riverside increase is attributable to a single residential parking garage on Franklin Street, which reported multiple overnight thefts in November and December. The thefts have continued into 1999, and the Cambridge Police Investigations Section has implemented various strategies to address them.

West Cambridge's 28% increase comes from a sweeping series of 30 incidents that hit the neighborhood in the first three months of the year. Men from Dedham and Arlington were eventually arrested, ending the pattern.

Other hot spots in 1998 were the parking lot at the Fresh Pond Apartments in North Cambridge and several parking lots along Bishop Allen Drive in Area 4 (accounting for the 28% increase in that neighborhood). The parking lot at the Fresh Pond Mall sometimes emerges as a hot spot, but not in 1998.

The Cambridge Police Department arrested 28 people-21 men and seven women-for larcenies from motor vehicles in 1998. The average age of those arrested was 27. Four were juveniles; 12 were over 30.

Twelve of those arrested were homeless; six were from Cambridge (four from East Cambridge, one from Riverside, one from Strawberry Hill); six from Boston; two from Dedham; and one each from Somerville and Arlington.

Larceny of Bicycles

For the fourth consecutive year, larceny of bicycles declined in Cambridge. 1998's decrease of 21% was the largest in any of these four years. Hopefully, this trend will continue. Between 1989 and 1994, bicycle theft exhibited a sharp ascent, soaring from an average of 270 per year in the 1980s to 575 in 1993. The recent declines reflect, perhaps, the increased publicity given to this crime, the greater availability of bicycle racks, and a crime-prevention conscious public. (The Cambridge Police Department's bicycle theft statistics do not include thefts reported on MIT or Harvard University property. These additional thefts could add several hundred to the total.)

With the recent decrease came a couple of interesting shifts in the character of the crime:

In 1996, about 70% of stolen bicycles were stolen from the street-from meters, signs, and bike racks, locked or unlocked. The other 30% were stolen from residential areas such as back yards, front porches, apartment building basements, and garages. In 1997, this ratio changed to about 50% "street" thefts and 50% "residential" thefts. Finally, in 1998, it was inverted from 1996, with about 60% occurring from residential areas. In other words, bicycle theft is moving away from an unprotected, street environment to protected, residential areas where the bicycles' owners presumably believe the bicycles to be safe.

The traditional summertime peak was blunted. Usually, 80% of bike thefts occur between May and September; in 1998, it was only 60%. Furthermore, there was actually a small peak in November. The probable reason: bicycle thieves stealing from the street have to confine their activities to the summer, when most bicycles are out, but with the increase in thefts from residential areas, thieves are free to act any time of year. A graph on the next page gives a monthly breakdown of bicycle theft.

The usual clusters in Harvard Square, Porter Square, and Central Square nearly evaporated in 1998. Harvard Square typically has the highest concentration in the city, with 70-100 thefts over any given summer. In 1998, there were no more than 25 in this area. Again, the reason behind this is the reduction in thefts from the street discussed above. Instead of plaguing the commercial squares, bicycle theft clusters moved to the residential areas of Mid-Cambridge and the Peabody and Agassiz neighborhoods.

The Cambridge Police Department arrested 10 people-all men-for bicycle theft in 1998. Though the crime is often associated with juveniles, all but one of the men arrested were, oddly, between 34 and 46 years old. Five were from Boston, two from Cambridge (Area 4), one was homeless, one was from Waltham, and one was from Revere.

To ensure that the decline in bicycle theft continues, the Cambridge Police Department has formed a partnership with MIT and Harvard University to mutually share information on bicycle thefts and bicycle registrations.

Larceny from the Person

Larceny from the Person describes pocket-picking or any theft that occurs within the victim's area of control. The thefts are non-confrontational, and usually the victim is not aware of the theft until after it has occurred. If any confrontation between offender and victim takes place, the crime is recorded as a Robbery.

After dropping 25 percent in 1997, larceny from the person rose four percent in 1998.

Larceny from the person is dominated by three recurring scenarios:

Larcenies of Diners' Property (138). In the typical occurrence of this crime, a female diner places her purse under her chair, beside her chair, or slung over the back of her chair. During the meal, someone creeps up from behind and lifts the wallet from the purse, or takes the purse entirely. Men are sometimes victimized, with wallets taken from coats hung over the backs of chairs. Two thirds of this type of larceny occurred in Harvard Square restaurants. Usually, the crime happens at dinner time, between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., but towards the end of the year, a pattern emerged involving coffee shops during lunch hours. Central Square occasionally reports patterns of this crime, and there are a few scattered incidents at the Food Court at the CambridgeSide Galleria.

Pocketpicking (75). While a victim walks through a public place, a crafty pickpocket ("dipper") stealthily reaches into the victim's coat, purse, or backpack and removes valuables-with wallets and cellular telephones the most common targets. Harvard Square and Central Square report the highest pocketpicking numbers, with the concentration between noon and 4:00 p.m.

Distracted Shoppers (37). A shopper puts a bag of merchandise or a purse by his or her feet while browsing through a store. Moments later, it is gone. Often, the theft occurs from a shopping cart in a grocery store. The highest concentrations are at the CambridgeSide Galleria, Central Square, and Harvard Square.

There were four arrests for larceny from the person in 1998: a 50-year-old man from Riverside arrested for a restaurant theft in Central Square; a 33-year-old man from Belmont arrested for a restaurant theft in Harvard Square; a 42-year-old man from Dorchester arrested for pocketpicking in Central Square; and a 37-year-old man from Riverside arrested for pocketpicking in Harvard Square.

Shoplifting

Shoplifting incidents held roughly even between 1997 and 1998. 43% of all shoplifting incidents occur at the CambridgeSide Galleria. Harvard Square (23%) makes up the majority of the remainder.

Shoplifters usually fall into one of four categories:

Juvenile Shoplifters who steal on a dare, to impress their peers, to get an "adrenaline rush," or to compensate for lack of money.

Impulse Shoplifters who seize a sudden chance, such as an unattended dressing room or a blind aisle. Sometimes, the "impulse" is a long line or sudden lack of money.

Alcoholics, vagrants, and drug addicts, who steal erratically and clumsily. When caught, this type of shoplifter is more likely than others to get violent (see "Shop Owner/Patron" assaults in the Assault section).

Kleptomaniacs who steal to satisfy a psychological need.

Professionals, who steal expensive items and resell them to fences or "flea markets."

Since shoplifting incidents are most often reported only when an arrest is made, an increase in shoplifting may be viewed positively: more thieves are being caught. On the other hand, since the vast majority of shoplifting incidents are unseen and go unknown until the store checks its inventory, underreporting of shoplifting is a serious problem. The actual shoplifting number may be four to seven times the statistic given in this report.

Police made 257 arrests for shoplifting in 1998-145 males and 112 females. Ages ranged from 13 to 64. The average age for an arrested shoplifter was 26, with an average age of 22 for females and 28 for males. 69 of those arrested were juveniles. 116 arrested shoplifters were from Boston, 51 from Cambridge, and 13 from Somerville.

Larceny from Residences

Larcenies from Residences are non-burglary thefts from apartments, hallways, garages, and yards. "Non-burglary" means that no force or trespass was involved in the theft: the thefts are committed by people who have the right to be on the property. They include thefts committed by guests, roommates, family members, workers, and home health care providers. They also include thefts committed from common areas of apartment buildings, and thefts committed from property surrounding a house, such as the front yard, walkway, or tool shed. Since larcenies from residences are usually committed by someone who knows the victim, pattern identification and intervention by the police department is difficult. This crime decreased 13 percent from 1997. One pattern to watch involves the theft of mail and packages delivered by parcel services.

Larceny of Services

This crime includes taxi cab fare evasion, "dining and ditching," "gassing and going," and other failures to pay for services already rendered. There were 31 of these crimes reported in 1997 and 28 reported in 1997.

Among these was a prolific pattern: between March and August, the same Putnam Gardens man scammed eleven cab drivers out of the fare, plus a little extra. The well-dressed con man picked up cabs at hotels in Boston and had them drive him to nearby police stations (Arlington, Belmont, Brighton, etc.). He would go inside, then return and claim he didn't have enough money to bail out a friend. Through a combination of charm and coercion, he would get the cab driver to lend him the funds (ranging from $75 to $400) allegedly necessary to make the bail. He would go back inside the police department, then come out and tell the cab driver everything was all set; if the driver simply took him home to Putnam Gardens or Peabody Terrace, the man would pay the driver back. After letting the con man out of the cab at Putnam Gardens, the driver would never see him again.

This scam artist was arrested at least two times. The series finally ended in August.

Including this series, 20 of the 28 larcenies of services in 1998 involved cab fare evasion. Three were thefts of gasoline. There were two "dine and ditch" thefts, two cases in which a driver rammed through the gate of a parking garage to avoid paying. The final incident involved a man who stole his own car from a tow yard to avoid paying the towing fee.

Larceny of License Plates

A crime related to Larcenies from Motor Vehicles is the self-explanatory Larcenies of License Plates, which decreased 22 percent between 1997 and 1998. Stolen plates are often used to replace license plates on stolen automobiles of the same make and model, or to give a plate to an unregistered motor vehicle. Since the theft of a license plate is often unnoticed and unreported for several weeks, the thief's stolen or unregistered car is somewhat protected from detection during that time.

However, new computer technologies which allow patrol officers to quickly check the status of a license plate (and what car it belongs to) are making this crime risky for thieves, thus lowering the rate.

Back to the 1998 Annual Report Index