Full and original article posted on Telegram & Gazette
Police and firefighters rate highly
The Research Bureau’s seventh annual report on public safety in Worcester points to a few areas of concern — primarily with the safety of the city at night — even as the overall message is a positive one: Worcester remains safer than most other midsized cities in New England, and the public continues to express strong satisfaction with the service and professionalism of the city’s police officers and firefighters.
The five-year trend shows a significant increase in violent crime, largely in aggravated assaults, while property crime rates are more stable. There were more than 119,000 police incidents reported in 2009, an increase of 22.5 percent over five years. Meanwhile, arrests during that period declined by 10.5 percent, and reached a five-year low of 7,189 in 2009.
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