I think that anyone who follows the Boston news gathering Web site Universal Hub must think that East Boston is a crime-ridden hellhole. Numerous reports of violent assaults and muggings happening East Boston have been posted on the site in recent weeks, with 20 of the last 30 posts with the tag “East Boston” being crime-related.

This coverage is disturbing to me. I’ve been living in East Boston for bit of time now, and have grown to really love the neighborhood. Beyond the excellent food, Eastie has amazing public parks and green spaces. The neighborhood feels vibrant, with lots of people walking, shopping and socializing. Since I have moved here, I’ve seen dramatic improvements in the cleanliness of the streets and homes. I also work nights in a restaurant, and regularly come home very late. I have never felt scared to walk to my building at that late hour.

Other East Boston writers have addressed this apparent crime surge (see here and here), and I agree with everything they have said, particularly with this quote from The Hubster:

Now, to be fair, such an assessment — that crime has surged — can be skewed by several things, including that more information is available on the Internet more quickly today than ever before, therefore, I am able to read the police report more easily than in the past. In the grand scheme of things, urban crime across the country is down in the past 20 years AND East Boston has always been one of the city’s safer neighborhoods.

(Emphasis is mine)

The Hubster is right. District A-7 East Boston puts their entire police blotter online, making every official police action just a quick Google search away. By my check, only one other Boston Police Department district does this, District E-13 Jamaica Plain, and none of the links on their blotter worked as of this writing. To look at the other districts, the third-party site CrimeReports is good source, one that the official site for the BPD links to. According to their stats, there were 329 assaults in the Boston area for the week beginning September 9 and ending September 17. These numbers exclude District A-7, which when included bring the number to 357, which places 28 assaults in the East Boston area. Unfortunately, I can’t link directly to the map, but this information is easily obtainable. Here is a screenshot of the map:

So I ask, is crime really as bad as it reads in East Boston? Or is it just the admirable openness of District A-7 that is skewing the overall crime picture of the neighborhood as it is being reported? I don’t deny that there is crime in Eastie, and that it may be rising. However, in my view it is being over-reported on Universal Hub, with many other crime incidents in other neighborhoods not receiving the same attention. Universal Hub is a site I like and read daily for my Boston news. I just wish they were more careful in their coverage of something as inflammatory as crime news.