OVERVIEW

These polygon datalayers show the level of crime statistics by municipality in Massachusetts for the years 1980-2003. This data is Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data. Municipalities contribute data voluntarily, therefore not all municipality have data and not all municipalities have 12 full months of data. These layers can be seen in State Police OLIVER (SPOLIVER). This data is collected by the Massachusetts State Police. The layers are stored in ArcSDE as spatial views in the EOPS schema and distributed by year as UCR_80_S_V through UCR_03_S_V ("_S_V" for spatial view).

Data was broken up into layers by year (1980-2003). If a municipality had a COUNT of 0 (0 months reporting), attributes were set to -1 so that they could be drawn in grey on the map. Category breaks in SPOLIVER were symbolized using Jenks Natural Breaks using the year 2000. If a municipality contributed less than 12 months of data but more than 2 months, counts were estimated (except for murder) Formula: (count for crime/count of months)*12. Rates then used estimated counts. Rates are per 1,0000 population, using the appropriate population count (1980-1989 used 1980 population, 1990-1999 used 1990 population, 2000-2003 used 2000 population). Murder counts were never estimated. All decimals were rounded to 2 places. If breakdown statistics for a total were 0 (and the total was non-zero), then the breakdown statistics (counts and rates) were calculated to be -1 (data missing). This applied to Rape Total, Robbery Total, Assault Total, Burglary Total, Motor Vehicle Theft Total. Note that breakdowns of motor vehicle thefts are not available at all for 1999 and 2000 (and are therefore set to -1). Also note that town crime data does not include crime at colleges and universities within the town.

Each type of crime has different a color ramp according to the following scheme:

Murder:  red
Rape:  purple
Robbery:  orange
Assault:  green
Burlary or larceny:  brown
Motor vehicle theft:  blue
Sums of categories:  ramp of green to red

Category breaks were symbolized using Jenks Natural Breaks using the year 2000.

The Crime Statistics by Municipality datalayers' polygon attribute tables have the following items:

TOWN		Town Name
TOWN_ID		Town ID
POP1980		1980 Population
POP1990		1990 Population
POP2000		2000 Population
COUNT		Number of Months Reporting (if 0 other count and rate fields set to -1)
MURDER		Murder Count (never estimated)
RAPE_TOT		Rape Total Count (estimated if COUNT > 2)
RAPE_FORCE		Rape By Force Count (estimated if COUNT > 2)
RAPE_ATMPT		Attempted Rape Count (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ROB_TOT		Robbery Total Count (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ROB_GUN		Robbery By Gun (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ROB_KNIFE		Robbery By Knife (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ROB_OTH		Robbery By Other Weapon (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ROB_HAND		Robbery By Hands/Feet/Fish (Strongarm Robbery) (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ASSLT_TOT		Assault Total (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ASSLT_GUN		Assault By Gun - Aggravated (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ASSLT_KNIF		Assault By Knife - Aggravated (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ASSLT_BLNT		Assault By Blunt Object - Aggravated (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ASSLT_HAND		Assault By Hands/Fist - Aggravated (estimated if COUNT > 2)
ASSLT_SMPL		Assault Simple - Not Aggravated (estimated if COUNT > 2)
BURG_TOT		Burglary Total (estimated if COUNT > 2)
BURG_FORCE		Burglary By Force (estimated if COUNT > 2)
BURG_ENTRY		Burglary - Unlawful Entry, No Force (estimated if COUNT > 2)
BURG_ATMPT		Burglary Attempted (estimated if COUNT > 2)
LARCENY		Larceny (estimated if COUNT > 2)
MV_THF_TOT		Motor Vehicle Theft Total (estimated if COUNT > 2)
MV_THF_CAR		Motor Vehicle Theft - Auto (estimated if COUNT > 2)
MV_THF_TRK		Motor Vehicle Theft - Trucks and Buses (estimated if COUNT > 2)
MV_THF_OTH		Motor Vehicle Theft - Other (estimated if COUNT > 2)
VIOL_PROP		Total of Violent and Property Crimes (estimated if COUNT > 2)
VIOL		Sum of Violent Crimes - Murder, Rape, Robbery Aggravated Assault (estimated if COUNT > 2)
PROP		Sum of Property Crimes - Burglary, Larceny, Motor Vehicle Theft (estimated if COUNT > 2)
AGAS		Sum of Aggravated Assault Crimes (estimated if COUNT > 2)
DEPT		Extra information about the police department
MURDER_R		Murder Rates per 100,000 Population
RAPE_TOT_R		Total Rape Rates per 100,000 Population
RAPEFORC_R		Rape By Force Rates per 100,000 Population
RAPEATMP_R		Attempted Rape Rates per 100,000 Population
ROB_TOT_R		Total Robbery Rates per 100,000 Population
ROB_GUN_R		Total Robbery By Gun Rates per 100,000 Population
ROBKNIFE_R		Total Robbery By Knife Rates per 100,000 Population
ROB_OTH_R		Total Robbery By Other Weapon Rates per 100,000 Population
ROB_HAND_R		Total Robbery By Hands/Feet/Fists (Strongarm Robbery) Rates per 100,000 Population
ASLT_TOT_R		Total Assault Rates per 100,000 Population
ASLTGUN_R		Assault By Gun Rates per 100,000 Population
ASLTKNIF_R		Assault By Knife Rates per 100,000 Population
ASLTBLNT_R		Assault By Blunt Object Rates per 100,000 Population
ASLTHAND_R		Assault By Hands/Feet/Fists Rates per 100,000 Population
ASLTSMPL_R		Assault Simple Rates per 100,000 Population
BURG_TOT_R		Total Burglary Rates per 100,000 Population
BURGFORC_R		Burglary By Force Rates per 100,000 Population
BURGENTR_R		Burglary Unlawful Entry Rates per 100,000 Population
BURGATMP_R		Attempted Burglary Rates per 100,000 Population
LARCENY_R		Larceny Rates per 100,000 Population
MVEH_TOT_R		Total Motor Vehicle Theft Rates per 100,000 Population
MVEH_CAR_R		Motor Vehicle Theft Autos Rates per 100,000 Population
MVEH_TRK_R		Motor Vehicle Theft Trucks and Buses Rates per 100,000 Population
MVEH_OTH_R		Motor Vehicle Theft Other Rates per 100,000 Population
VIOLPROP_R		Total of Violent and Property Crimes Rates per 100,000 Population
VIOL_R		Sum of Violent Crimes - Murder, Rape, Robbery Aggravated Assault Rates per 100,000 Population
PROP_R		Sum of Property Crimes - Burglary, Larceny, Motor Vehicle Theft Rates per 100,000 Population
AGAS_R		Sum of Aggravated Assault Crimes Rates per 100,000 Population

MAINTENANCE

The State Police maintain these datalayers. If you have questions regarding these datalayers, contact Dan Bibel, Program Manager, Crime Reporting Unit, Massachussetts State Police, Daniel.Bibel@state.ma.us or 508-820-2111.

Also see these layers:

• Crime Statistics By Colleges and Universities
• Police Employment By Municipality
• Police Employment By Colleges and Universities

Last Updated 12/15/2005
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