Crime in Framingham

Many people question whether another drug rehab clinic in Framingham would increase crime in the town, noting that the crime rate in Framingham isn't that high even with the clinics we already have. The MetroWest Daily News has gone a step further, claiming that the methadone clinic "has had no problems in over a year of operation" (The Salvation Army War Zone by Rob Haneisen, July 1, 2005). What these people fail to note is that crime in Framingham is increasing and that violent crime in Framingham is strongly associated with the large concentration of substance abuse facilities downtown.

2007 Update

Since this article was written in 2005, we have made several changes to make it more inclusive and timely. The big news in 2007 is that according to Police Chief Steve Carl, crime in downtown Framingham dropped almost 27% since SMOC was forced to close the wet shelter. This is great news, and means Framingham is finally ready to attack the problem of downtown revitalization.

Overall Crime in Framingham

Framingham's crime rate is lower than the national average, and thankfully much lower than Boston's or Worcester's. However, it appears that crime in Framingham is increasing and has been, fairly steadily, since a low point in 1999, as the following chart shows.

Reported crimes in Framingham 1997-2004. Source: the crime statistics section of the Framingham Police Department web site.

It is not clear to what extent these crime increases can be blamed on increases in the homeless and substance abuse populations in Framingham brought in by the social service industry (e.g the wet shelter and the methadone clinic; see e.g. A. Rothbard et al. in Substance Abuse Treatment, June 1999). Crime in the entire region has been increasing due to slowdown in the economy, and crime across the country has been increasing the past few years due to the weak economy, decreased federal aid to states, and decreased emphasis on community policing.

However, we now know, thanks in large part to SMOC's participation in a PILOT Committee forum, that social services in Framingham import large numbers of people from outside the area. This is in addition to a police department survey

In addition, SMOC has a contract with the Department of Corrections to place "high-risk, difficult to place offender subgroups, for example arsonists and sex offenders" without even notifying the local police.

Is it any wonder crime is up in Frmaingham?

Violent Crime in Framingham

However, there is also no denying that there is a problem with violent crime in downtown Framingham, nor that it is associated with the variety of substance abuse clinics available in the area. Framingham's one real "hotspot" of violent crime is around the intersection of Rte. 135 and Rte. 126, as shown on the map below. (Note: violent crime is defined as "Type 1" crimes in the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics.)

As you can see, this area is delineated by at least seven substance abuse facilities, including the methadone clinic and the wet shelter. It appears that problems caused by these shelters have a multiplying effect, and probably to the detriment of the clinics' clients, as well as the community. And surely it is counter-productive to have so many social service agencies working against each other: for instance, why have a dry shelter within walking distance of a wet shelter?

(Map from the crime statistics section of the Framingham Police Department web site.)

Key: 1. Spectrum Health Systems, 214 Howard Street —  outpatient substance abuse/methadone clinic 2. SMOC Behavioral Health Services, 300 Howard Street —  outpatient mental health and substance abuse clinic 3. Sage House (SMOC), 61 Clinton Street — seven family shelter for recovering drug addicts 4. Advocates Community Counseling, 27 Hollis Street —  outpatient mental health and substance abuse clinic 5. New England Aftercare / The Bridge House, 20 Summit Street — substance abuse halfway house 6. Wayside Metrowest Counseling, 88 Lincoln Street —  outpatient mental health and substance abuse clinic 7. SMOC wet shelter, 90 Irving Street — shelter for active substance abusers

We leave it up to the reader to decide if the clinics cause the crime in downtown Framingham or not, but consider the following before ruling it out:

• Ease of access: While the 135/126 intersection has a large number of cars and access to the train station, traffic flow is hindered by congestion. There is greater ease of access along Route 9, where crime rates are much lower.
• Immigrant population: While this area has a high immigrant population, the crime hot spot does not extend throughout the areas with high immigrant populations, but rather ends a short distance from the shelters and clinics.
• Policing: The police patrol this area more than the rest of Framingham, not less. In fact, the Framingham Police Department has no regular patrols north of Route 9!
• Businesses: While the area has a large number of businesses, it has fewer than Route 9 or Nobscot, where crime rates are much lower.

While the evidence is not conclusive, it would appear that the clinics and shelters in downtown Framingham have an adverse effect on the crime rate.* If this is true, it demands three actions to mitigate the problem:

• Social service agencies like SMOC, Spectrum, and Advocates need to improve their on-site security, ensure 24/7 staffing, and compensate the town for the increased policing they require through a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program.
• The State needs to increase local aid to Framingham to increase police staffing and initiate a thorough examination into the effects of social service agencies on surrounding areas, possibly requiring that they maintain adequate security and be legally liable for problems caused by their clients.
• Social service agencies need to decentralize their services and put a moratorium on new services in Framingham until shelter density throughout the region is equal, rather than concentrating shelters together, so that problems do not feed off each other as they tend to do now.

Please call or write to your state senator and representative and ask them to work towards solving this problem and suggest the actions above.

* To be fair, downtown areas generally have higher crime rates that residential areas, and many factors influence this. Historically speaking, those things (some of which Steve Herring wrote about in "Framingham: An American Town") include cheap housing, close quarters, absentee landlords, easy availability of alcohol (stores and bars), the railroad tracks, and the general decrepitude of the area. Fraqmingham is working to address some of these factors. There is no reason we should not address the large number of social service facilities in the area at the same time. As noted elsewhere, Framingham has more than double the number of facilities per capita as any other town in the region.

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