SOUTH COAST Police departments in the 19 South Coast cities and towns reported 1,805 violent crimes and 5,470 property crimes in 2025, up 7% and 11% from 2024, even as the statewide rates for both went down, FBI figures show.
The property crime count was the highest of the past five years for the 19 departments together. Violent crime stayed below its 2021 to 2023 levels, when the same departments reported between 2,098 and 2,325 a year. Statewide, the FBI's figures put violent crime at about 301 offenses per 100,000 residents in 2025, down about 5% from 2024, and property crime at about 1,037, down about 8%. Across the 19 South Coast communities the 2025 rates were about 376 and 1,138, up from about 348 and 1,018 in 2024.
Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton, home to a little more than half of the region's residents, accounted for 1,318 of the violent crimes and 3,703 of the property crimes. The other 16 departments reported 487 violent crimes, up from 396 in 2024, and 1,767 property crimes, up from 1,609.
Fall River
Fall River police reported 728 violent crimes in 2025, up 13% from 642 in 2024. The city had topped 850 in each year from 2021 to 2023. The 2025 count works out to about 769 per 100,000 residents, roughly two and a half times the statewide rate. Aggravated assaults made up 538 of the total, up from 484, while robberies rose from 96 to 114 and rapes from 59 to 73. The department reported three homicides in each of the two years.
Property crime in the city rose 5% to 1,467. Thefts account for most of it: larcenies climbed from 468 in 2021 to 1,142 in 2025, while burglaries fell from 342 to 174 over the same years.
New Bedford
New Bedford went the other way on violent crime. Its police reported 349 violent crimes in 2025, down from 365 in 2024 and 616 in 2021, a drop of 43% in four years, or about 345 per 100,000 residents. Property crimes rose 12% to 1,576, with larcenies up from 955 to 1,109.
The FBI's figures show New Bedford reporting far fewer offenses in November 2024 than in any other month that year: nine violent crimes and 22 property crimes, against at least 21 and 91 in each of the other months. That dip pulls the city's 2024 totals below its usual pace and makes its 2025 increase in property crime look larger. Leaving November out of both years, New Bedford's violent crimes still fell, from 356 to 315, and its property crimes rose about 7%, from 1,381 to 1,483, rather than 12%. Across all 19 departments, the same check still shows increases, of about 6% in violent crimes, from 1,561 to 1,648, and about 10% in property crimes, from 4,598 to 5,046.
The department's own 2025 annual report lists slightly different totals, 361 violent crimes and 1,590 property crimes, and compares them with 802 and 3,003 in 2016. "Crime levels in 2025 remained significantly lower than historical levels, reflecting continued progress in reducing both violent and property crime while maintaining a high level of service to the community," the report says.
Taunton and the towns
Taunton police reported 241 violent crimes, down 14% from 281, or about 386 per 100,000 residents. Property crime there rose 27% to 660, and burglaries nearly doubled, from 72 to 135.
Among the towns, Dartmouth's property crimes rose from 379 to 485, Wareham's from 258 to 333 and Swansea's from 131 to 174. Six departments reported fewer property crimes than in 2024, among them Lakeville, Seekonk and Somerset, and Lakeville's violent crimes fell from 23 to nine. Fairhaven reported 49 violent crimes after 25 in 2024; it had reported between 43 and 54 a year from 2021 to 2023. In the smallest towns a few cases move the count a long way: Marion reported 11 violent crimes in 2025 after one in 2024, and Rochester 13 after three.
Town by town
| Department | Violent 2024 | Violent 2025 | Property 2024 | Property 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acushnet | 14 | 24 | 26 | 33 |
| Berkley | 8 | 11 | 10 | 18 |
| Dartmouth | 86 | 101 | 379 | 485 |
| Dighton | 15 | 10 | 22 | 30 |
| Fairhaven | 25 | 49 | 97 | 118 |
| Fall River | 642 | 728 | 1,393 | 1,467 |
| Freetown | 31 | 30 | 46 | 58 |
| Lakeville | 23 | 9 | 82 | 37 |
| Marion | 1 | 11 | 32 | 45 |
| Mattapoisett | 4 | 12 | 36 | 26 |
| New Bedford | 365 | 349 | 1,403 | 1,576 |
| Rehoboth | 12 | 12 | 40 | 26 |
| Rochester | 3 | 13 | 18 | 8 |
| Seekonk | 33 | 27 | 266 | 233 |
| Somerset | 28 | 40 | 107 | 82 |
| Swansea | 23 | 31 | 131 | 174 |
| Taunton | 281 | 241 | 521 | 660 |
| Wareham | 70 | 83 | 258 | 333 |
| Westport | 20 | 24 | 59 | 61 |
| South Coast, 19 departments | 1,684 | 1,805 | 4,926 | 5,470 |
What the numbers count
The FBI counts four offenses as violent crime: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime covers burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. The figures are the offenses each local police department recorded and sent to the FBI's crime reporting program, as posted on the bureau's Crime Data Explorer after its Oct. 15 update. State Police, the MBTA and the campus police at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College report as their own agencies, so crimes they handle are not in the town totals, and crimes never reported to police do not appear at all.
Rates per 100,000 residents use the populations the FBI lists for each department. In towns that report a few dozen offenses a year, a handful of incidents can change the total by a third or more. The FBI warns against using its figures to rank communities, because population density, economic conditions, commuting patterns and other local factors shape the amount and kind of crime from place to place. Each department's month by month counts, and offense by offense detail, are on the FBI's Crime Data Explorer under the agency's name.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every figure comes from public records: the FBI Crime Data Explorer's monthly offense counts and populations for the 19 South Coast municipal police departments for 2021 through 2025, as refreshed by the FBI on Oct. 15, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting definitions of violent and property crime and its guidance on the proper use of its statistics, and the New Bedford Police Department's 2025 annual report. We read them on Oct. 30. The yearly totals, the regional totals, the percentage changes, the rates for the 19 communities and the comparison without November are our arithmetic from the FBI's own monthly numbers; the statewide rates are the FBI's monthly statewide rates added up for each year.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (5)
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: summarized offense data for the 19 South Coast municipal police departments, 2021 to 2025Monthly offense counts and FBI populations for violent crime and property crime for Acushnet, Berkley, Dartmouth, Dighton, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Rehoboth, Rochester, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton, Wareham and Westport police, plus offense detail for Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton and the statewide monthly rates; FBI data refresh dated Oct. 15, 2026. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting: Violent Crime, definitionViolent crime is composed of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting: Property Crime, definitionProperty crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics: Their Proper UseThe FBI's policy against ranking agencies on crime data alone, and the local factors it lists that affect the volume and type of crime from place to place. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- New Bedford Police Department: Annual Report 2025Crime Overview (page 37) and Crime Trends, 2016 to 2025 (page 38): 361 violent crimes and 1,590 property crimes in 2025; 802 and 3,003 in 2016; the quoted sentence is on page 37. Read Oct. 30, 2026.