2024 report: New Bedford violent crime down 60 percent over ten years

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — The New Bedford Police Department has reported a continuing decline in violent crime for the year 2024, according to data submitted to the FBI by the department.

According to the New Bedford Police Department’s 2024 Annual Crime Report, crime rates have been falling for the past ten years in the city.

Included in the report are the findings that violent crime decreased by 60 percent from 2015 through 2024, which the department attributes to a steep decline in aggravated assault and robbery.

These two crimes saw a decline of 68 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

Property crime also went down 52 percent in the ten year period because of steep drop in burglary, down 74 percent, arson, down 58 percent and larceny, which went down by 50 percent.

Motor vehicle theft incidents are up 51 percent since 2020 in the city, most of which the department attributes to the TikTok “Kia Challenge,” a social media trend that involved the targeting and theft of Kia and Hyundai vehicles made between 2011 and 2021.

Shots fire incidents went up between 2020 and 2024, with 45 incidents reported in 2020 and 68 reported in 2024.

Of the 68 incidents in 2024, three were fatal and 14 resulted in the injury of a total of 24 victims.

Homicides in New Bedford totaled seven in 2024, with four reported each year between 2020 and 2023.

The full New Bedford Police Department 2024 Annual Crime Report is available for view and download here.