The eight biggest cities in New England saw the total number of murders last year jump more than 20 percent from the year before. But city to city, the statistics represent a mixed bag that some law enforcement officials said reflects little more than the randomness of murder and death.
Homicide totals in Bridgeport, Connecticut, more than doubled, from 10 in 2016 to 23 last year.
Hartford saw a similar increase, going from 14 to 29. But Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley pointed out while there were more homicides in 2017, there were actually fewer shootings.
“[A shooting] becomes a homicide based on a lot of different factors," Foley said. "What kind of medical care did they get, how fast they get to medical care, how fast somebody calls 911, how fast the police officers got there, the distance from the hospital, good luck or bad luck, the accuracy of the shooters.”
Foley also said last year's murder increase looks comparatively worse because the total from 2016 was so low. That year saw the lowest recorded number of homicides in Hartford since at least the early 1980s.
In Stamford, the police department reported no homicides in 2017, down from two in 2016. Police Captain Richard Conklin said law enforcement tactics and first responders deserve some of the credit, but not all of it.
“There’s also a certain amount of luck here,” Conklin said. “This is a very complicated issue, and there’s no one specific thing.”
Springfield, Massachusetts, saw 14 homicides in 2017, the same number as the previous year.
In both 2016 and 2017, Boston reported the most murders among New England's biggest cities. But because its population is so much larger than the region's other cities, Boston's murder rate is lower than that of Hartford, Bridgeport and Springfield.
