CityStat – Pittsfield Police Department

Do you have questions or concerns about the crime rate in the City of Pittsfield? Do you ever wonder, “Is crime going up, or is it going down? What types of crimes are taking place in my neighborhood?” Being able to answer these questions is vital to the well being of the community. After all, a problem (if it exists) can’t be solved until it has been identified. Likewise, after a solution has been implemented, there must be a way to evaluate its effectiveness. As part of our ongoing efforts to provide this information, The City of Pittsfield Police Department has created CityStat, an intelligence-based, public report on crime activity that is taking place in Pittsfield, MA.

CityStat will be released monthly and is designed to give the community a comprehensive picture of the types and amount of Group A offenses that are taking place in the city, as well as how those numbers compare to previous years. Group A crime consists of offenses that are deemed to be of the most serious nature, and are categorized by the FBI as the following: Crimes Against Person, Crimes Against Property, and Crimes Against Society.

How To Read a CityStat Report

CityStat charts are broken down to show three different ways of looking at Pittsfield crime statistics:

The 4 Week column provides a look into how the current month’s numbers compare with the numbers from the month prior. For example, if you are reading a report for February 2014, the 4 week chart will show you the numbers for January 2014 and February 2014.

The Year to Date column shows cumulative statistics for the current and previous year. The numbers reflect all Part I crimes in a given category that have taken place from the beginning of the year up until the end of the month the report was put out. For example, if you are reading a report for February 2014, the numbers would reflect offenses that took place from January 1st through February 28th.

The 5 Year column shows the average number of offenses for the month of the report over a 5 year period. For example, if you are reading the report for February 2014, the 5 Year statistics would reflect the average number of crimes for the month of February from 2009 through 2013.

Graphs included in CityStat provide the community with a closer look into some of the more pertinent information contained within the report. The graphs show the specific numbers for 2009 through 2014 as well as the 5 year average, so that trends in crime are more visually apparent.