If you live in Worcester County, MA, your area is the recipient of a dubious FBI honor: According to recently-released 2013 data, nine of the top 50 crime-filled cities and towns in MA belonged to Worcester. Local residents aren’t sure the data holds up under scrutiny, but safe or not the FBI results beg a question: What can citizens do to make Massachusetts a safer place? Read more →
Involved in a serious car accident? There are state and federal databases to record what happened, how many people were injured and government money spent to discover new ways to prevent high-risk collisions.
Had a problem with gun violence? Until recently, there was virtually no federal funding for a similar system, and patients admitted to local ERs essentially vanished from sight. In large part, this was due to fear that a database of gun-related injuries was just gun control in disguise, thanks to an executive order from President Obama, money has started flowing from the CDC to state agencies interested in expanding their national reporting system. The hope? That a better understanding of why and how gun violence occurs will help limit the amount.
According to the statistics, violent crime rates are down across the United States, and in cities like Providence, Rhode Island, rates have been dropping for the past six years. Meanwhile, studies find that overall police spending is up and municipalities are fighting to keep budgets in line. Is this the “new math?”
West Hartford police have been busy according to the Courant. Since June 2014, they’ve arrested 21 burglars, many responsible for more than one property crime. Police Chief Tracy Groves credits a hard-working police force but says “the biggest component of this is the residents of West Hartford keeping an eye out,” which covers everything from walking in on crimes in progress to installing home security systems.
He also warns, however, that “crime is cyclical” — is it possible for New England homeowners to get out of the circle?
In Auburn, MA, vandals are terrorizing the 118 year-old Worcester Hebrew Cemetery, which lies at the far end of Cemetery Road. As reported by Telegram Towns, criminals recently toppled 19 headstones and caused irreparable damage to several of the grave markers.
While the Auburn police are doing everything they can — and the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts is offering $500 for information leading to the arrest of these vandals — leads are slim.
On Wednesday February 12th, a woman in her 50s lost her life when a fire broke out in an apartment of a three-family home in Cambridge, Mass. Fire officials determined the cause of the fatal blaze was an electric baseboard heater that may have malfunctioned.
The home fire alarm system (smoke detectors) inside the apartment, as well as throughout the building, had been disconnected or did not have batteries, said Cambridge Fire Chief Gerald R. Reardon.
“A working smoke alarm coupled with an escape plan can double one’s chances of surviving a fire,” he said.
Not too long ago we provided some tips on how to prevent smoking-related fires in your home after a Westfield, MA woman died in a fire caused by cigarette smoking near a home oxygen system. Even more recently, an off-duty police officer helped rescue an elderly woman from a blaze in Arlington, Massachusetts that was ignited when someone improperly extinguished a cigarette in a planter filled with mulch on the second-floor deck of a two-story home.
The woman — who was on oxygen — lived on the first floor and after firefighters knocked down the fire, they removed at least five oxygen canisters in danger of exploding. The Arlington woman was very lucky. Every year nearly 1,000 people die in home fires started by cigarettes, according to the U.S. Fire Administration — and one in four of the people killed in those types of home fires was not the smoker whose cigarettes caused the blaze.
There’s an old saying that has never applied more than in the internet age: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Each of us has probably seen some kind of offer online — a car that’s priced way below its market value, an email informing you that you’ve won a lottery you don’t remember entering, or a stranger detailing a plan to transfer a huge sum of cash into your bank account — that couldn’t possibly be real. Yet, despite all of the warning flags surrounding these types of ‘deals,’ there are still many individuals who find themselves taken in by scams that end up costing them thousands of dollars.
Westborough Police are reminding people to be vigilant when dealing with unusual financial transactions or offers in order to protect themselves from both financial and potential identity theft as well. Offers to transfer money into your bank account — a portion of which you get to keep — are almost always bids from criminals to gain access to your banking details in order to defraud you.
The Baby Boomers are getting older, and the ‘Silver Tsunami’ will soon be extending its demographic might into the senior bracket. With Americans living longer and more productive lives, there are a number of social questions that will have to be answered over the course of the next few years — not the least of which being how to keep our elders safe and secure throughout retirement.
Much of the focus when it comes to seniors and safety has to do with their health, such as preventing falls, or making it easy to access medical care in an emergency situation with a medical alert system. The financial health of the older population, however, is just as at risk, due to a new generation of scammers who target elders.
One of the fastest growing crimes in the United States is scrap metal theft. Thieves looking for a fast buck are stealing copper, aluminum, nickel, stainless steel and scrap iron from any number of businesses.
For example, in February a Nashua, New Hampshire man was charged with stealing a scrap-metal bin containing 20,000 pounds of scrap metal from a recycling company, according to an article in the New Hampshire Union Leader — and police believe the alleged thief is also involved with the thefts of scrap metal bins from other locations.
Even more recently, police in Charlton, Mass. arrested two men they allege stole scrap metal from a railroad year, according to the Telegram & Gazette.
