FBI data: Crime along shoreline remains near 10-year low

In 2020, car thefts rose in suburbia

Violent crime and property thefts remained at or near 10-year lows in several of Connecticut’s Shoreline towns in 2020, despite a rise in the number of carjackings that has prompted some local calls for intervention, the FBI reported.

The agency released its 2020 analysis Monday.

In towns such as Guilford, Madison, Branford and Old Saybrook, only a handful of reported crimes last year fell under the federal tally of

violent offenses, which includes murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Madison reported the fewest, with one, while Branford reported the most, at 21.

While each town recorded a small bump in property crimes last year, overall reports of burglaries, arson and thefts remained well below historic highs. Motor vehicle thefts, which were up on the Shoreline and across Connecticut, are likely behind some of the increase in property crimes, experts said.

Across Connecticut, the FBI data showed violent crime falling to its lowest point in a decade, though that success was overshadowed in part by an uptick in homicides. Nationally, the U.S. saw its largest one-year jump in murders since the FBI began compiling nationwide statistics in the 1960s.

In Shoreline suburbs and small towns, where homicides remain rare, much attention has focused on the rising numbers of car thefts, which shot up by more than 42 percent across the state last year, according to the FBI.

Michael Lawlor, a professor at the University of New Haven and former undersecretary of criminal justice policy in Gov. Dannel Malloy’s administration, said that trend was largely a suburban phenomenon.

“People who are into taking other people’s cars have realized you can go to the suburbs where a lot of people leave their cars unlocked,” Lawlor said.

In Branford, the number of car thefts nearly doubled to 67 last year, the highest in any single year of the last decade. Next door in Guilford, the increase was a more modest 35 percent, and the total of 19 reported car thefts was still well below the high of 70 the town recorded in 2010.

Guilford Police Chief Warren Hyatt said his department is “seeing what everybody else is seeing,” with the rise in car thefts, adding that officers are attempting to tackle the problem by reminding residents to keep their cars locked.

“The simplest way to drive those numbers down is to take away the opportunity,” by not leaving the keys in or near a car, Hyatt said.

In Madison, concern over car thefts prompted Police Chief John “Jack” Drumm to request adding new police officers to his force last week . Drumm, who could not be reached for comment on Monday, had his department provide statistics showing that Madison is on pace to record around 30 motor vehicle thefts this year, around the same number as last year.

The FBI statistics released Monday show a much smaller number of car thefts in Madison in 2020, with just four.

The FBI reported a similar number of car thefts in Old Saybrook in 2020, eight, which represented a 60 percent increase over the previous year, as well as a decade-long high.

In addition to local leaders, lawmakers in Hartford have also debated what action is necessary as a response to the rising number of car thefts.

Republicans, spurred by the death of a jogger who was struck by a stolen vehicle in New Britain this summer, have called for tougher penalties particularly on younger and repeat offenders. Democrats have argued that Republicans are embellishing the issue, and have sought greater access to diversionary programs.

Numbers included in the FBI’s annual crime report are based on information submitted by individual law enforcement agencies. The 2020 report includes data from all 107 law enforcement agencies in Connecticut.