Newton’s new police chief, George McMains, gave the Newton Police Department (NPD) annual report at the City Council’s Public Safety and Transportation on Wednesday, January 22 (see video). He discussed robberies, road safety, and transparency of information on these topics.
Robberies
Chief McMains said car break-ins were up 63%, and residential break-ins were up 117% last year. There were 39 residential break-ins in 2024. Except for a Celtic coach’s house robbed during an away game, the Police could find no pattern. Chief McMains said most break-ins are crimes of opportunity.
Most car break-ins occurred in the early morning; 71% of the vehicles were unlocked. Chief McMains recommended not leaving items visible in cars that could appeal to thieves.
Residential break-ins were frequently at the rear of the house through cut screens, shattered windows, or unlocked doors. Chief McMains recommended homeowners use cameras (such as Ring or Nest), alarms, and/or motion-sensor lights to deter break-ins. He said that robbers prefer unoccupied houses due to lower criminal penalties and that robbers can be in and out of a home in less than 15 minutes and cause “a lot of damage.”
Commercial robberies were down. Chief McMains said commercial buildings typically have alarm systems and often do not have cash or items that can be easily sold, with the exception of stores like Lululemon, with merchandise that can be grabbed off tables.
Hate incidents — generally speech that is not enough to be charged as a hate crime — increased from 49 incidents in 2023 to 67 in 2024. Hate crimes had increased from one incident to seven. Most of these crimes were stolen or defaced signs related to the Middle East conflict. To curb hate crimes, the police have directed patrols based on incidents and requests.
Mental health calls doubled from 230 in 2023 to 466 in 2024. NPD’s social worker and Sergeant Rooney work together on follow-up and coordinate their efforts with the City’s Health and Human Services Department. All police officers are trained in mental health response. Many of these calls are repeat calls to the same location. In the last 15-20 years there has been a significant increase in these types of calls.
Road Safety
Vehicle crashes were up 6%, and bike crashes were up 27% from 22 in 2023 to 28 in 2024. Pedestrian crashes were down 30%. The police have been citing drivers and cyclists more frequently. Distraction and inattention are a common cause of crashes. The police have written many tickets, yet the impact is temporary. Crashes reoccur when police are not there.
The crashes are scattered throughout the City. Center Street and Washington Street “is a hot spot.” Over half of vehicle crashes were in intersections or parking lots. The parking lot of Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a frequent crash spot.
Operation Safe Sidewalks, funded in 2024 by a grant to increase foot patrols and bicycle patrols in village neighborhoods and parks over the summer, received very positive feedback from businesses, police, and residents. The Police Department wants to do it again this year. When Chief McMains began working in Newton 28 years ago, there were about 210 officers, and officers were assigned to villages. In 2008-2009, the number of officers went down to 135, so NPD has not been able to maintain walking beats.
Transparency
Several Councilors asked how they could find information about robberies and crashes in their wards so that they could be aware of the issue before residents came to them with concerns.
Chief McMains said the City is using LexisNexis to create a map of traffic crashes that will be available to the public. Data transparency about robberies should be part of the LexisNexis data, but he was not sure how the information could be displayed in a helpful way that did not raise anxiety in the community. He asked the Councilors for their suggestions.
He said that NPD lists a weekly activity summary on its Facebook page. For the week of January 12 to 18, NPD listed 803 total calls for service, 5 arrests, 52 crashes responded to, 69 medical assists, 62 Fire Department assists, 1 POP (Problem Oriented Police) Unit co-response, 24 POP unit follow-ups, 0 biased-related incidents, and 283 directed patrols. The information on the NPD Facebook page provides less detail than the Needham Observer, which lists a detailed weekly Police Blotter with a link to the town’s arrest log.
